Degrees of democracy
Play
There are many differences between the democracies of the UK and Thailand. Everybody in the House of Commons in the UK is an elected MP. That's where governance rests.
The House of Lords is made up of proven members of society and acts as a check on the Commons. There are several parties in the Commons and many independent individuals in the Lords. Each party has its own agenda, which is published at the time of the elections, and the public selects the members it wants.
This contrasts considerably with Thailand, where the businessmen that run the party get others elected but party-list members take the ministerial positions and make 100 per cent of the decisions (Thaksin permitting). The party that has the most money will generally win the election.
This is nearer to the US model, where the person that raises the most money to bankroll an election campaign gets made president and the officers of state are his non-elected appointees. The George W Bush presidency was run by his vice president, Dick Cheney. The two houses are both elected, not according to an agenda but through voting for the Red Team or the Blue Team. It makes little difference which team wins. There are many Democrats who regularly vote with the Republicans on the “God, country and Israel” ticket. Barack Obama’s election promises fell over when he needed full-hearted Democrat support.
Now Obama is getting flak because he will not go to war with Syria without the support of Congress. That the constitution legally requires him to do this is not taken into account.
Richard Bowler
Bangkok
