A fundamental property of democracy is that many voices have an opportunity to be heard, considered and accomodated in the process of making society's decisions.

A loss of those voices and or a disregard for their significance is a loss of democracy.

The increasingly popular, and promoted, assertion that being able to vote for a representative is a sufficient condition for a functioning democracy is a blatent falsehood. An election can be fair or unfair but it can under no circumstances be "democratic".

Party politics now systematically excludes and often derides voices that do not follow the party line. Party "leaders" are virtual autocrats. Party's have arrogated unto themselves power at the direct expense of democracy. The party's have so insuinated themselves into the institutions of governance that the "government" is now formed on the basis of political party.

The Western "democracies" now bear an uncanny resemblance to communist Russia. Elections are held. But, as in Russia, the voters understand that whoever becomes their "representative" is no more than a party cipher.  Dropping voter participation rates are an ominous consequence.

The accompanying monographs are an attempt to: articlate some fundamental aspects of democracies;  illuminate some of the problems and illusions plaguing the Western democracies and to provide some thoughts on how to ensure that democracies in name are democracies in fact.