Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> Do you believe your government is working in the best interests of the 
> people of the country? If you answer, what country are you in?

  It's rather obvious that the majority of elected representatives are
not there exclusively to benefit themselves at the cost of their citizens
because if that were the case, the country would have crumbled long ago.
Keeping a country afloat economically, politically and socially requires
that the people making decisions want to do that.

  There are (still) many things here (and most other European countries)
that directly benefit the citizens and are considered of upmost importance,
such as free/inexpensive education for everybody (here including up to
university level), free/inexpensive health care and so on. (And even more
importantly, at least here in Finland, and probably at least in the other
Nordic countries and probably in many other European countries, there is
no difference between rich and poor in this respect. Rich and poor all go
to the same schools, the same hospitals, and so on. Even the notion of a
difference sounds very foreign.)

  Of course this doesn't mean that there aren't individual politicians who
think more about themselves than anybody else.

  However, there are some other more worrying general trends among the
governments of many European countries, including to some extent Finland's.
The importance of some of the most fundamental tenets of society have been
slowly devalued. Things like democracy and freedom of expression.

  It may sound like nutjob political conspiracy theorist stuff, but it
really isn't. It really has been happening. The importance of, for example,
asking the citizens' opinion on certain things and voting for things has
been noticeably reduced in the last 10 or 20 years. Less and less decisions
are subject to public discussions, polls and votes, important decisions
which affect the society as a whole. Even in Finland important laws are
being passed by the parliament in a rush, without giving the public any
time to voice their opinion on it. It's no coincidence that in many cases
these are controversial laws which the politicians know people disagree with.
(Good examples of this include the new draconian gun control law, the
controversial new immigration law, the internet censorship law, and the
new copyright law.)

  I think this is a good example of a situation where the representatives
are not even listening to the people they represent, even though that's
kind of what they are for.

  Another thing being devalued is freedom of speech. "Freedom of speech
does not mean you can ..." has always been a guiding principle. However,
if you compare how that sentence was typically completed 20 years ago and
how it is typically completed today, you will notice that what is allowed
today is significantly narrower than what was ok 20 years ago. More and
more things are being added to the list of things not allowed by freedom
of speech.

  In many cases the law itself has not changed, only its *interpretation*.
It's being applied more strictly today than 20 years ago, and the only
guiding principle seems to be the political correctness trend. What is
trendy today affects how judges interpret the same law.

  It can be noticed that many politicians, and especially the media, hate
freedom of speech (as ironic as that might sound). They hate it because
it allows people to express the "wrong" opinions. No longer is the basis
of a free society "I disagree with what you are saying, but I'll defend
to death your right to say it". No. There is more and more demand today
to forcibly shut up people with the "wrong" opinions. The value of people
being able to freely disagree and express their disagreement is being lost.

  The pressure on politicians to do something about this "problem" of
people being allowed to express the "wrong" opinions is rather high, and
more and more laws limiting freedom of speech are being passed.

  There is also clearly a growing dislike of democracy for the same reason:
Democracy allows citizens to vote for the "wrong" people, which is seen as
a huge "problem" by many. It's to be seen where this sentiment will lead.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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