The Democratic Conspiracy: Rights with no responsibilities Luthando Tofu Democratic legacy t is common knowledge that amongst modern civilizations, democracy has been exalted as the best form of government that expresses individual freedom as well as corporate economic prosperity (largely driven by capitalist/free market). These two are the pillars of modern democracy. Countries, who uphold other models of governance such as Communist China and Muslim Middle-East/Africa, are regarded as oppressive and totalitarian. Though, there is much substance to this perception, it also shows the universal acceptance of democracy as the best invention of the modern age. The U.S.A. has played a major role in the promotion of democratic systems worldwide often sanctioning countries who do not adhere to the democratic framework. What is not so common though is the answer to why morality is increasingly failing in democratic states causing modern civilizations to crumble from within.
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The South African Deputy President, Kgalema Motlanthe, speaking at the government led Moral Regeneration Movement, defined morality as saying, “The meaning of morality speaks about acceptable standards of right and good conduct. Morality speaks of fighting against corruption and greed in both public and private sectors.” 1 Of course this is a highly politicized understanding of morality and lacks the substantially personalized aspect of human nature. The premise of the recently promoted traditional values such as ubuntu can fail to be objective because it is humanitarian and humanistic (both man-centred) in nature missing the Divine element (Theo-centric) and commission. This is the major missing link of secularized ubuntu.2 The Deputy President may not pass as a moral philosopher; however something more important can be learned from this premise. It is exactly the politicizing of morality that continues to cost the nation more than we realize. Since South Africa is a declared secular state run by politicians, who gets to define the moral agenda for the nation and what is their propaganda? The South African constitution has continuously been hailed as one of the best in the world taking its liberal nature and its safeguarding of individual human rights. It is obvious that the philosophical embedding of the idea of “human rights” could only be derived from Judeo1
http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/show.asp?include=deputy/sp/2010/sp07301539.htm&ID=2195&type=sp http://www.docstoc.com/docs/15417569/Faith-Politics-and-Development-The-silence-of-the-Church-in-theNew-Democratic-South-Africa 2
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Christian thinking. This is because Christianity and its Judeo background arose as the only religion that saw humanity as being sacredly created in the image of God (imago-dei). When trying to enforce morality without a “source� is like building a house in the air with no foundations. What modern society tries to do is to accredit man as intrinsically good and capable within himself to be morally good without the need for a source of God which is God. God through Christ not only gave a source but he also gave a model or embodiment of morality and how life should be lived. Rights In a biblical perspective, one has rights but is yet required to surrender those rights to the one who gave those rights – God. The reason why modern society is so taken with the idea of rights is because it is an immediate substitute for what God gives which is identity. The kingdom pattern is that rights are not a primary focus point but rather once one acquires an identity in Christ and a eternal perspective then you understand that all things have been given to us but it is not how much we claim that is important but rather how much responsibility do we exercise even upon those things which we do not yet have physical manifestation of. Therefore in kingdom paradigm, identity is much more valuable than rights. Unfortunately once God is removed out of the picture then rights are more important even they have damaging outcomes. Once society succumbs to the idea of entitlement then responsibility fades. Democracy centered around the individual interest promotes selfishness, pride and survival of the fittest. Individuals trade off their responsibilities for a bowl of entitlement which politicians are only happy to capitalise on during candidacy campaigns. Freedom The more people perceive themselves to be free the more they are bound and enslaved by their own desires. Reflecting on Scripture, the main problem in the world is not the evil but rather man's constant ability and pursuit to self destruct. True freedom then is the ability to realise that you can do or be anything you want but are conscious enough to relinquish that freedom for the sake of the bigger picture. What you cannot walk away from essentially owns you therefore you cannot be free if you cannot walk away from your own desires. The false idea of freedom perpetuated by democracy actually enslaves people to their own materialistic and sensual desires with a false hope of fulfillment in climbing the social ladder. Upward mobility is the core of what democratic modern societies see as development. The kingdom of God is about freeing us from ourselves and placing ourselves at the hands of Christ. By doing so nothing in us or around us has power over us and what then we acquire from that is an identity which helps us see from an eternal vantage point rather than finite. We cannot be free unless we surrender even that idea freedom because then we are still oppressed by what we perceive as the pursuit of self-satisfaction. Conclusion Developing a culture of responsibility Individuals may have an intuitive sense of responsibility towards a particular facet due inclination of loyalty based on the relationships built. Developing a culture of responsibility that is holistic should compel the individual to exercise responsibility in multiple dimensions. This becomes an inbuilt technique intrinsic to self identity rather than a done activity
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because one feels compelled to. Our ability to be responsible comes from identity. Identity comes from the knowledge of the purpose of our existence. We can only answer that purpose through Christ who created us for himself and through himself (John1). The democratic lie that the constitution is the supreme law of the order of a sovereign state imposes itself in the place of God's Sovereign word. The idea that freedom is the fundamental platform in which we can realise self-actualisation pervades the biblical idea of voluntary submission to the will of God our master in order for us to find who we really are. The idea of secularised human rights is a substitute to the pursuit of identity found in Christ. In the kingdom order of things right never precedes responsibility nor freedom identity. All things have been given to us but like Christ we take off those freedoms and rights and lay them before the Creator and let him govern over us in order to experience true liberty.
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