Democracy is fragile and needs to be protected
Sent to: Gravelbourg Tribune on Sunday, November 2nd, 2025
Dear Editor,
I am writing to share my view on the current state of democracy in our country and in the rest of the world around us. I find this to be an extremely important thing not only to talk about, but also to work on, everyday, and now most than ever.
Democracy is like a muscle: the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets, and the most useful it is. Neglect it, and it will slowly lose strength and, in the long term, atrophy and die. Once this point is reached, you won't be able to do the things you want and going back to the previous state could be impossible.
Democracy, it is important for everyone to remember, means that the power lies in the hands of the people and, because of that, it ensures that our freedoms and rights are respected. This is worth repeating: without democracy there is no freedom.
Power to the people means not only that we can vote in elections to elect our representatives, but it means much more. It means that we can - and should be able to - give direction to our representatives so that they can act in our interest. This is one of the reasons why organizations that are not strictly part the government or parliament are important: they have at heart the interests of the people they represent and they can put pressure on institutions to make that happen. Think, just as a few examples, about the National Farmers Union, the Automotive Industries Association of Canada, or the Canadian Labour Congress.
Like any other system, democracy is far from perfect and one of the biggest problems of our current system is the very thing that makes it viable: representation. Once a representative is elected, it becomes harder to let them hear what the people want or need. How many times have you complained about politicians not respecting the promises they made during their campaign, or simply taking decisions that are not in the public interest?
When thinking elected representatives, it is easy for our minds to jump to the highest levels of government (perhaps because they are those that are more discussed in the news and media, or the ones we most easily identify as the source of our discontent), but I want to stress the need to focus on all levels, starting from our local boards and municipalities, up to the federal government and international organizations. Democracy is exercised the best at small levels, where it is closer to its original form of absolute democracy, where all decisions are made by everyone, together, each person carrying one vote. This is almost never a viable option, but the smaller the community is, the easier it is for people to influence their representatives and keep them in check.
What each and every one of us should do, in order to keep democracy strong and to ensure that our freedoms and rights are preserved is - as I mentioned before - to exercise it: stay informed on what is going on (and make sure that your sources can be trusted), participate in your local boards and town/city council, ensure that institutions follow the rules, demand transparency, and generally get involved: "politics" is not a bad word and we should all talk more about it, just not always about the highest level, but more and more about what we could all do to make our communities prosper and how to do it. This is what politics means and this is what democracy needs to stay healthy. If you value your freedoms and rights, please don't take it for granted.
Best Regards, Mauro Meden