We Indians vote once in 5 years and then-after forget about it. But Americans get more into the process.
The American voters involve more actively in every stages of the governance structure -the ward, the town, the county, the state, and the union. They go to town hall meetings; they invite the regional legislators to address them in local events, And they communicate with their senators and representatives, they petition others to support or oppose specific policies.
Indian democracy is focused on the citizens choosing who they will obey, while American democracy is mostly about the people choosing who they will employ to implement expectations of the people. In the former case, it is servants choosing their masters, and in the second case, masters choosing their servants.
When do you really count a country as a democracy? Just voting mechanism doesn’t build a democracy. While the vote is meaningless or designed in a way that the ruling party has an unfair advantage, it hardly matters. Also, there are several of other criteria’s which a lot of people might or might not consider component of a working democracy (separation of powers, political equality, power to due process, freedom of speech). Democracy happens to be the government of the people. Thus, larger the number of individuals engaged with the democratic government, larger is the democracy.
India is second largest country in regards to population, after the China. But the china does not have complete democracy. Hence, India remains having the largest country (in regards to population).
This article is compiled by Cartoonist Mayank
