As is common knowledge, our country is widely mentioned throughout Latin America as an exemplary case of a solid and stable democracy, but when one analyzes all the factors that are influencing the national scene in recent years, one really has to admit that we have a long way to go before such a confident judgment is made.
Here, as in many other "democratic" countries (both north and south), citizens exercise their right to "participate" in making decisions about the destiny of their country only one day every four years, but 99.8% of the rest of the time they have no formal mechanism to channel their views and have them taken into account in the direction the government is taking.
In practice our "democracy" has been almost infunctional. As is widely known, the style of our governments has always been extremely "presidentialist", concentrating power in the Executive at the expense of the legislative representatives that make up the National Congress. Here too, there is no Judicial Power capable of becoming independent and exercising its constitutional mandate adequately. Anyone would say that we do not even have a Constitution, but there is one. What happens is that it is not respected, or rather, it is interpreted whimsically, always at the expense of the people.
In short, it is really outrageous for all of us, educated, conscious human beings with the capacity to think and decide for ourselves, to have to accept that our destiny is managed by a very small group without the slightest possibility of being heard, much less taken into account.
Taking into account the current national situation (where all the deficiencies already mentioned stand out) and the international situation (with all the events in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, South Africa, etc.), I consider that it is time to increase the initiatives and pressures tending to promote a broad, clear and coherent movement towards the implementation of a true democracy here in the Dominican Republic.
But, what is a democracy, what are its characteristics and critical points that must be addressed if we want to build a healthy and functional society? In general terms, it can be affirmed that one of the characteristics of the history of human civilization is that its development has depended on the capacity of its members to understand and articulate the basic principles and values of life. At the same time, our ability to understand these concepts depends directly on the evolution of our consciousness as individual human beings and as a collectivity. Therefore, it could be said that the development of our civilizations depends directly on the development of the sum of the consciousness of its members, that is, the totalizing consciousness of life and its integral reality.
Undoubtedly, this applies to our concept of what democracy is. As is common knowledge, the definition of democracy has varied enormously throughout the different eras and cultures of history. Each society has defined for itself what they understand as democracy inwardly and outwardly. The formal definition of democracy is: government for, by and of the people. Complementing that idea, it could be said that real democracy implies the universal right of the individual and his collectivity to exercise the opportunity of free thought and action at all levels of life. This occurs mainly at three levels, all of them important: the first is within the human being, the second has to do with the relations that each one has with the collectivity and the third is how it is organized.
Regarding the first level, that is, the formation and awareness of the human being, it is necessary to point out that for democracy to be functional at a global level, the members of society must have the freedom to decide what they want from life and to have the opportunity to express and realize it. Consequently, the human being must possess all the faculties and resources at his disposal so that he can make the right decisions. Self-democracy begins with the transformation of the human being with a view to his inner balance, free of ties that prevent us from seeing things as they are and, therefore, to be able to take the corresponding actions. There cannot be a healthy democracy if its members are not healthy.
On the other hand, a healthy democracy depends on the relationships that the individual has with his or her collectivity, because if there is no mutual respect among human beings, coexistence is impossible. Obviously, it requires a broad understanding and consensus of what human relations imply and how they are put into practice. This entails an intensive process of civic education so that there is the greatest diffusion, awareness and popular conviction so that each individual understands his rights and duties within society.
As for the third level, it is essential to organize and structure the whole to allow the rights of the individual to be respected and strengthened while ensuring the harmonious and integral coexistence of all its members. In this sense, there is a very delicate and difficult to define balance between the rights of the individual and those of the collective. It could be said that individual rights stop at the point where those of the collective begin. Each society has to define its particular balance by creating the functional mechanisms that make possible the realization of internal democracy.
In synthesis, democracy, more than a concept, is a process specific to each reality in which two aspects stand out: on the one hand, what the Americans call "empowerment" of the people, that is, granting political, economic and social power to the people through the transfer of resources (educational and financial) so that they can realize themselves as human beings and participate freely and consciously in the decisions on the destiny of their collectivity. On the other hand, this process requires the support of formal and institutional mechanisms for the organization and structuring of society, creating the instances required for its pluralistic and equitable development.
It is clear that we are currently living in a time of radical transformation in almost every sense. Without realizing it, a new civilization is emerging. There is evidence of the emergence of a truly global collective consciousness that is breaking down religious, racial, sexual, social, political and economic barriers. There is more real participation at all levels, a growing sense of responsibility not only for personal actions, but also for each other and for the protection of our natural resources and the other life forms that share this planet with us.
In light of all this, it becomes more urgent for us to insist on building a healthy society, where all citizens participate in the decision-making process, freely and consciously. That is our right and destiny. That is what we have to work towards. It is a slow but essential process if we want to enter the next century as a vigorous, dynamic and democratic country where we all have the same opportunities to decide our own destinies and to self-realize ourselves as human beings.