AFC concept and practice of liberal democracy

Mar 10, 2011 Letters

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Dear Editor,
“Liberal democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” – H. L. Mencken, 1920.
The practice of liberal democracy will inform every thing the AFC stands for, fights for and believes in and defines us from the political pack in Guyana.
Liberal democracy will stand out in the printed and vocal calls by the AFC across Guyana and where ever Guyanese reside in the Diaspora.
1. The AFC is attempting to ingrain in the Guyanese psyche a different ideology on Guyana in more than 50 years. Marxism/Leninism ruled our efforts/aspirations as a nation state all along. The Guyanese people know of nothing else. A ruinous experience and certainly the major cause of British Guiana/Guyana being on the chess board of the Americans and British ruling class was the signal cause for the failure of Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham to move Guyana forward beyond the historic struggle for political emancipation.
Now after marking time since political independence, Guyanese need to pursue a path of Economic Emancipation. Therefore, we need to spell out how this ideology caters to all the nation’s needs at this juncture in our history and developmental needs and how it will allow our people a free and open society.
It must be placed at number one among Guyanese core principles, our guiding light, our call to action.
Among the first Guyanese to proclaim liberal democracy as the way forward for Guyana was Mr. Paul Tennessee of the DLM. That can’t be denied as the DLM had it in print since the late eighties.
It will be recorded that a single Guyanese man from Pennsylvania fought for its prominent inclusion in the AFC’s outlook for the emergence of Guyana into a prosperous nation catering to the welfare of all its diverse peoples.
It must be hereby acknowledged that the whole concept of Liberal Democracy was first adumbrated within the AFC by its presidential candidate Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan and contained in his address to the 2010 AFC Convention at the Ocean View Convention Centre.
Liberal democracy is a phrase often used to describe Western democratic political systems, such as Australia, the United States, Britain, New Zealand, Canada and other nations. It refers to political systems in which there are attempts to defend and increase civil liberties against the encroachment of governments, institutions and powerful forces in society; to restrict or regulate government intervention in political, economic and moral matters affecting the citizenry; to increase the scope for religious, political and intellectual freedom of citizens; to question the demands made by vested interest groups seeking special privileges; to develop a society open to talent and which rewards citizens on merit, rather than on rank, privilege or status; and to frame rules that maximise the well-being of all or most citizens.
It is generally agreed that liberal democracies are based on four main principles:
A belief in the individual, based on the idea that the individual is both moral and rational; a belief in reason and progress, based on the belief that growth and development are the natural conditions of mankind, with politics the art of compromise; a consensual theory of society, based on the belief that society is a kind of mutual benefit association, based on the desire for order and co-operation, rather than disorder and conflict; and a suspicion of concentrated forms of power, whether by individuals, groups or governments.
Accordingly, liberal democracies are organised in such a way as to define and limit power in order to promote legitimate government within a framework of justice and freedom:
Efforts are made to define and limit power, usually by means of a written constitution. Checks and balances, such as the separation of legislative, executive and judicial power, are instituted. There are
conventions of behaviour and an equitable legal system to complement the political system. The notion of a legitimate government with a mandate/authority to rule is crucial. Governments require a high degree of popular support, derived from an electoral system that allows for popular, free and frequent elections with the highest possible franchise.
This is achieved by the full implementation of the equitable things already mentioned so that citizens live in a climate where representative democracy prevails, tempered by constitutionalism, free elections and restraints on power, so that all citizens are treated equally and accorded dignity and respect.
For freedom to exist there must be the freedom to make decisions; to learn from them and to accept responsibility for them.
There must be the capacity to choose between alternatives and the freedom to do what the law does not forbid. Prohibitions should exist for the general good and there should be respect for political and civil liberties.
Liberal democracies often experience disputation about the appropriate role of government in economic matters, some groups arguing for a totally free market, whilst others support varying degrees of regulation and intervention.
Liberal democracy is a form of representative democracy where elected representatives that hold the decision power are moderated by a constitution that emphasises protecting individual liberties and the rights of minorities in society, such as freedom of speech and assembly, freedom of religion, the right to private property and privacy, as well as equality before the law and due process under the rule of law, and many more.
Such constitutional rights, also named liberal rights, are guaranteed through various controlled institutions and various statutory laws. Additionally the constitution of most of the contemporary liberal democracies protects the rights of individuals and minorities, and prohibits the will of majority (majoritarianism), by almost eliminating that rule in practice.
The AFC went into labour and delivered a healthy, infant baby as its vision for the evolution of a safe, peaceful, healthy, prosperous Guyanese nation under its liberal democratic rule.
Lionel Peters

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