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The word democracy is derived from two Greek words: demos, meaning "the people," and kratos, meaning, "rule." A democracy is a way of governing in which the whole body of citizens takes charge of its own affairs. As citizens of towns, cities, states, provinces, and nations, the people are the sovereigns, the source of power. Democracy means that they can freely make the decisions about what is best for them: what policies to adopt and what taxes to pay. An authoritarian government is a government where they tell people what to do and expect the people to obey. This obedience is usually justified in the name of some higher value to which an individual¡¦s interests and rights may be sacrificed. I believe that political decisions should be made democratically instead of using authoritarian processes because democracy provides equality, freedom and one of the most persistent defenses of democracy is that government policies are made in the interest of the people.



Authoritarian government is a political system in which the power is in the hands of a ruling elite. The rule of a few will produce a government that passes laws for the benefit of the few. Therefore, an advantage for democracy is that the supreme power is vested in the people and will satisfy the interest of the people. The rule of the many will create a government that legislates on behalf of the majority. In other words, those people who hold political power cannot use it for their own benefit. Another argument in favour of democracy emphasizes its ability to safeguard individual liberties. Free competition among political parties provides a check against possible governmental tyranny and oppression, just as periodic elections provide a powerful antidote to the corrupting effect of political power.



A word closely associated with democracy is equality. For a government to be a true democracy, there must be certain kinds of...