Vox Populi, Vox Dei

“Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” – Winston Churchill. 

According to Time.com,

In 2024, more than half the world’s population will go to polls—4.2 billion citizens across approximately 65 countries in what, from a distance, at least appears to be a stirring spectacle of self-government.

This should be a year of celebration. However, it’s a year of trepidation. Democracy is at risk globally as anti-democratic political forces have a high chance of winning in many countries.

Democracy is fragile by nature. When people are afraid, they sometimes vote away their freedom in favor of tyrants who promise to keep them safe. Benjamin Franklin understood this when he wrote, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” 

One often hears that tyrants will create the “Other” as part of their strategy. There is truth to this; however, something more is required. This is because Otherness can be attractive. Think about how people in the 20th century went crazy about everything ancient Egyptian who they perceived as Other than themselves. What’s needed is to convince people that the Other is a threat. 

Today, there are many portrayed as hostile Others. Immigrants, liberals, LGBTQA+, scientists, scholars, socialists, environmentalists, atheists, and more. This includes Neopagans like many reading this blog. Anti-democratic forces in many countries are attempting to convince voters, often through the use of conspiracy theories, that by voting away their rights they'll keep them safe.   

While these times are perilous, all is not lost. In a 798 C.E. letter to Charlemagne, the scholar Alcuin of York wrote, Vox populi, vox dei, which translates as “The voice of the people is the voice of the gods.”

The people can ignore the fearmongers and speak as gods. There is still hope.