Democracy vs Tyranny - and the difference is?

"Democracy has proved only that the best way to gain power over people is to assure the people that they are ruling themselves. Once they believe that, they make wonderfully submissive slaves."
Joseph Sobran in The Myth of 'Limited Government'

Helen, over at Your Freedom and Ours, posts on tyranny and while admitting that there is much wrong with our country, considers that those of us who feel we live in an authoritarian or tyrannical state are insulting those who do - citing China as an example. There is very, very little of what Helen writes, in total, with which I can disagree; however on this latest post I have to say that there are different forms of tyranny. Admittedly, as far as we know, people do not "go missing" at the hands of the state - some would argue that one who did "go missing" was eventually found dead on an Oxfordshire hillside, but I digress - but, picking up on the last paragraph of Helen's post, neither can the truth be found in any country where there is no freedom of speech, or access to information relating to ministerial actions and decisions taken whilst in office.

Goodnight Vienna, over at Calling England, posts on Bill Cash's article on Conservative Home - the latter showing how time and again his requests for information get "brushed aside"; that matters which are supposed to be subject to scrutiny are not; that when information is provided it is of such an obfuscatory nature as to be meaningless; and that there most definitely was collusion between the Lib/Lab/Con on the bail-out matter in the period between 6th and 11th May 2010.

An Englishman's Castle links to an article in the Guardian on the introduction of "Smart Meters" - something due to start in 2014 - on which I have posted previously here, here and, showing it is not just electricity that is due to be regulated but also water, here.

Where a Prime Minister can, with apparent ease and no fear of retribution, lie to the House of Commons and thereby to the people; where that same Prime Minister can ignore a popular request for a referendum on this country's membership of the EU; where a government decides not to supply information that should be in the public domain; where a government can interfere with the provision of a service for which an individual is paying; where politicians can decide whether MPs can be recalled by their constituents; where politicians can decide to ignore the result of a referendum if that result is "inconvenient"; is that not "authoritarian" and/or "totalitarian" behaviour?

There are those in this country who believe that the only exit from the mess in which we find ourselves is that of revolution. Did not Abraham Lincoln, in a speech to Congress on January 12, 1848 say:

"Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better."

For what it is worth, my prediction is that if the EU and our politicians continue on the path they are presently following, whereby their draconian/authoritarian/totalitarian characteristics become even more obvious - coupled with the awakening of the electorate, those wanting their revolution may well find that in 2015/2016 their dreams come true!


Update: Pop over to DP's place if you want examples of authoritarianism - of which this is a flavour! This lot can join the queue for the lamp posts too!