For most of the Burmese citizens, we already had a bitter practical, life experience of Socialism under Military Dictatorship of General Ne Win. Like all the Socialist and Communist leaders around the world in history General Ne Win had used  the BSPP or Burmese Socialist programme Party as a disguise or to smoke-shield his authoritarian dictatorial military rule.

So I am 100% sure, the whole population of Burma could not be fooled again by the sham or false promise of paradise for the workers, farmers and people (working people). Even present SPDC and its predecessor SLORC Military rulers are aware of this. So they are trying to hoodwink the whole Burma/Myanmar with the false hope of changing or the Phatom/Mirage “Seven steps of Road map to democracy.” But be careful, the catch word of SPDC is “Guided” (by the Military Generals) or “Disciplined” (Under the Myanmar Tatmadaw’s Discipline) Democracy.

And even the “promise” (as the mother just promised to please the crying child of pulling down and using the moon as a golden plate to put food for him.) of the of the first step to the  “Military disciplined Mirage Democracy” of the SHAM or Nyaung Nha Pin Lain (two banyan tree bluff) Convention was taking records length, even eligible for the longest Convention or conference entry into the world’s Guiness records.

Let us go back to the Marxist/Socialists’ view of Democracy:

1.       Democracy is a system giving ordinary people power.

i.         But we all Burmese already have a very bad experience that the ordinary people have no power at all

ii.        but power was always concentrated in the hand of one one group headed by a Dictator

2.       and some wrongly view

i.          Socialism, Marxism, etc. as inherently democratic

ii.         because they wrongly believe they give power to the working classes.

3.       But actually the

i.         “Party Leaders”,

ii.        “Cadres”,

iii.      Military Rulers or

iv.      Secret Agent Chiefs monopolized the power in Socialist and Communist States. You could see this in Russia and other communist states.

Many left-wing political groups in the 18th and 19th century referred to themselves:

1.       as democrats or

2.       their party as “democratic”

3.       Notable examples include

i.         the German Democratic Republic &

ii.        the US Democrat Party.

Social-Democrats

1.       see liberal democracy as being compatible with the interests of working class

2.       and therefore participate in elections.

3.       According to their wrong views,

i.         once in power Socialists can improve popular welfare

ii.        without needing to change the economic state.

4.       But we Burmese understand that we were just given the false hope of Mirage Paradise on earth and actually

i.                    we all were stuck in the notorious, “Jar Kar La” or interim period or transforming time.

ii.                  Ne Win just keep on giving the analogy of if we demolish the old house and build a new one, we need to bear the inconvenient for a while.

iii.                But that was a never ending story or an endless excuse.

The Marxist view is fundamentally opposed to liberal democracy

1.       believing that the capitalist state cannot be democratic by its nature,

a.        Yes or no is true. If there is a proper check and balance system it can be democratic

b.       And there must be

i.                     Rule of  Law but

ii.                   not Rule by Law as communist/Socialist states and Autocratic Military Governments.

c.        And the Laws must be written

a.      carefully,

b.      justly and

c.       properly

d.      to safe-guard the rights of the

·         minorities,

·         poor,

·         downtrodden people

·         as well as the majority.

2.       As it represents the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, Marxism views liberal democracy as an unrealistic utopia.

3.       This is because they believe that in a capitalist state:

a.      all “independent” media

b.      and most political parties are controlled by capitalists

c.       and one either needs large financial resources

d.      or to be supported by the bourgeoisie to win an election.

1. But in a Socialist, Communist, Authoritarian, a Military Dictatorship or in the Flawed democracies and Hybrid regimes there is no “independent” media nor most of the opposition political parties’ activities are unfairly restricted or not allowed at all.

5.       According to Marx, “Universal suffrage (i.e. parliamentary elections) is an opportunity citizens of a country get every four years to decide who among the ruling classes will misrepresent them in parliament.”

6.       But in a Socialist, Communist, Authoritarian, a Military Dictatorship or in the Flawed democracies and Hybrid regimes there is no real free and fair elections but show off or highly rigged elections only.

7.       Thus the Marxists believe that in a capitalist state,

a.      the system focuses on resolving disputes within the ruling bourgeoisie class

b.      and ignores the interests of the proletariat

c.       or labour class

d.      which are not represented

e.      and therefore dependent on the bourgeoisie’s good will.

8.       But in a Socialist, Communist, Authoritarian, a Military Dictatorship or in the Flawed democracies and Hybrid regimes

a.       the system focuses on resolving disputes within the ruling autocratic leaders and Military generals

b.      and ignores the interests of the proletariat

c.       or labour class

d.      which are not represented

e.      and therefore dependent on the autocratic leaders and Military general’s good will.

9.       Moreover, even if representatives of the proletariat class are elected in a capitalist country they have limited power over the country’s affairs as the economic sphere is largely controlled by private capital and therefore the representative’s power to act is curtailed.

10.   But even if representatives of the proletariat class are elected in a Socialist, Communist, Authoritarian, a Military Dictatorship or in the Flawed democracies and Hybrid regimes they have limited power over all the country’s affairs are controlled by the family and friends of the supreme leader and top party leaders only.

11.   Essentially, in the ideal liberal state the functions of the elected government should be reduced to the minimum (i.e. the court system and security).

There are many conceptions of democracy.

A.      Under minimalism, democracy is a system of government in which citizens give teams of political leaders the right to rule in periodic elections.

B   According to this minimalist conception,

i.                     citizens cannot and

ii.                   should not “rule”

iii.                  because on most issues,

iv.                  most of the time,

v.                    they have no clear views or

vi.                  their views are not very intelligent.

1. This meaning of the word “democracy” has also been called “polyarchy.”

A The aggregative conception of democracy holds that

 B  government should produce laws and policies that are

i.                    close to the views of the median voter —

ii.                  with half to his left and the other half to his right.

1. Anthony Downs laid out this view in his 1957 book An Economic Theory of Democracy.

a.        democracy is government by discussion.

b.       They contend that laws and policies should be based upon reasons that all citizens can accept.

c.        The political arena should be one in which leaders and citizens make

i.                     arguments,

ii.                   listen,

iii.                  and change their minds.

1. The modern proponents of this form of government are led by Jürgen Habermas.
2. The conceptions above assume a representative democracy.
3. Direct democracy holds that citizens should participate directly,
   1. not through their representatives, in making laws and policies.
   2. Political activity can be valuable in itself,
   3. it socializes and educates citizens,
   4. and popular participation can check powerful elites.
   5. Most importantly, citizens do not really rule themselves unless they directly decide laws and policies.
4. Political equality between all citizens.

A.      refer to societies in which there exists

i.                     a certain set of institutions,

ii.                   procedures

iii.                  and patterns which are perceived as leading to equality in political power.

1. First and foremost among these institutions is the regular occurrence of free and open elections
2. which are used to select representatives
3. who then manage all or most of the public policy of the society.
4. This view may see it as a problem that the majority of the voters decide policy,
5. as opposed to majority rule of the entire population.
6. This can be used as an argument
   1. for making political participation mandatory,
   2. like compulsory voting.
7. It may also see a problem with the wealthy having more influence and therefore argue for reforms like campaign finance reform.

Reference: Wikipedia