The Rules of Democracy

This past week there has been some serious discussion about the Green Party’s newly announced candidate! As reported, this candidate is known for his colourful language (put lightly), for ripping up the New Zealand flag, and at times for artistic work that appears to celebrate political violence… 

You would have heard this phrase used before: “the ends justify the means”  

This is an incredibly dangerous pattern of thought to allow into our lives, let alone into our democracy.  

Wherever you sit on the political spectrum, the debate that has followed the announcement of his candidacy is an important one to reflect on as we head into the General Elections. Some have sought to justify the behaviour by pointing to the poor outcomes experienced in the candidate’s community, while others have strongly condemned it. 

The question remains: does the fact that he comes from a community with a lower socio-economic background justify this approach to politics?

I would argue that it does not. Let me explain. 

If there’s one principle which democracy is built upon, it's this:  

The Rule of Law

This means we limit ourselves and our politics to a series of generally agreed upon rules. These rules and principles include, regular voting, accountability, transparency, peaceful governance and transition of power, freedom of speech, and so on...

These principles have served the cause of peaceful governance here in New Zealand for many years. We should be vigilant in protecting them and careful not to lose this.

Thomas Aquinas is often quoted as saying, “Bad means will never produce good ends.” When politicians begin endorsing behaviours and actions that threaten these democratic norms, alarm bells should ring. What they are really saying, is this:  

“The ends justify the means. If you must do something bad to achieve something good...go for it! It is ok to be trampling on years of democratic tradition, the rule of law, the foundations peaceful and popular Government...if the cause you are fighting for is important enough to you.”

No.  

This kind of thinking, used to justify destructive behaviour, should not be excused, and we must be vigilant in calling it out wherever it appears across the political spectrum, whether on the left or the right.  

Only a week on from ANZAC Day, we mustn't forget the promise we all made to one another: “lest we forget”

Lest we forget the cause of freedom for which many have given their life for.  

Lest we forget the horrors that so many have fought to keep from our shores. 

Lest we forget the price of the freedoms we have inherited.

Our inheritance of liberty and democracy has been shaped over millennia, hard-won, carefully built, and never guaranteed. It is not something we can afford to treat lightly. Any attempt to reshape or test its limits must be approached with vigilance, precision, and restraint. Otherwise, we risk not merely weakening it, but losing it altogether.

Benjamin Franklin warned that a democracy can only endure if those who live within it are willing to sustain it. That responsibility does not fall on institutions alone, but on all of us. At PILLAR, part of our role is to continually call for, and work toward, the preservation of the norms and principles that underpin democratic life.

And so Franklin’s question still confronts us, as urgently as ever: can we keep our democracy?