What is the essence of democracy?

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Democracy. You can touch it and yet it's not real. It's real and yet you don't understand it. You understand it and yet you know it's not complete. What is it, really?
"Democracy must in essence mean the art and science of mobilizing the entire physical, economic and spiritual resources of all the various sections of the people in the service of the common good of all" - Mahatma Gandhi (mkgandhi.org).
"There is one quality, perhaps above all others, which is essential if a state is to be democratic and that is accountability" – Anonymous (bullen.demon.co.uk).
"Majority rule is the heart and soul of democracy" – Yan Ming (chinadaily.com.cn).
"Nonviolence is the Essence of Democracy" – Stephanie N Van Hook (mettacenter.org).
"The essence of democracy involves a completeness of morals and intelligence, standing by and looking forward to the benefits of the public, not resorting to violence and ensuring that the people are free from suffering and can live in peace – Eleven Media, Myanmar (elevenmyanmar.com).
"Advertising is the very essence of democracy" – Anton Chekov.
"The essence of a democracy is compromise" – John Stuart Mill
"Informed voting is the essence of democracy" – KS Editors (kentwired.com).
"The true essence of democracy lies in responsibility and accountability" – benignO
"Accountability is the essence of democracy" – Gary Wills
"Engineering of consent" – Edward Bernays
"Democracy essentially means the rule of the common people" – Daniel Tetteh Osabu-Kle (carleton.ca)
"Democracy refers to two intertwined processes: the assimilation within the public sphere, what Fanon would probably have called the nationalization of political affairs, and the constant redefinition of society itself" – ANN (standpoints.ca).
"Democracy is an infinitely including spirit. We have an instinct for democracy because we have an instinct for wholeness" – Mary Parker Follett
"Understand (the) cooperative essence of democracy" – ANN (newindianexpress.com).
"There is a tendency among some people to be let's face it, lazy. We want things delivered instantly to our doorstep. That may work for pizza but that's not the way social change happens. It's instructive to heed the words of Fredrick Douglass, the great 19th century African American freedom fighter, who said, 'If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation…want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will'" – Jim Hightower (alternativeradio.org).
"We believe that press freedom is the essence of democracy" – Narendra Modi (outlookindia.com).
"Freedom of speech ... is the essence of our democracy" – Faust Rossi (news.cornell.edu).
"(The) essence of democracy is to respect the will of the people" – ANN (mountainechoes.org).
"People are receiving power because that is the essence of democracy. The democratic essence is power in (the) hands of its owner: people" – Hugo Chavez
"Elections, open, free and fair, are the essence of democracy, the inescapable sine qua non" – Samuel Huntington
"The aftershocks of the historical earthquake registered by Tocqueville are still being felt, as many of our recent cultural and political struggles illustrate. These conflicts oppose those who desire the complete democratization of existence, pushing an egalitarian individualism to the Promethean lengths of controlling the processes of life itself, to others upholding criteria of truth, good and evil, and beauty based on a transcendent ontological order. As Manent argues, in this work and elsewhere, democracy is silent on the most important question facing us – Quid sit homo – what is man? It therefore can provide no coherent answer to the question of the limitation of human will. It can provide no answer to those who, for reasons of efficiency or malevolence, want to dispose of society's weakest members – the aged and the unborn. It can provide no fertile source for the creation of beauty. It can provide, at best, only a pragmatic response to questions of truth or falsity. Thus we must love democracy moderately, since it does not deserve our absolute devotion" – Brian C Anderson (leaderu.com).
"In conclusion, the essence of democracy encompasses the intrinsic satisfaction of the individual in personally participating in politics, the notion of equality in democratic practice, that government is based on popular sovereignty and that democracy promotes responsiveness, accountability, trustworthiness, societal progress, governmental control, restraint, support, evaluation and acceptability. Democracy also promotes public enlightenment and improves executive problem-solving skills. ¶ "Also democracy promotes openness, peaceful conduct of government business, social harmony, public understanding, orderly and peaceful leadership succession, political stability, initiative, governmental responsiveness, accountability and legitimacy as well as citizen empowerment. ¶ "Finally, the essence of democracy, to the Nigerian people, should also embrace good governance, credible elections, provision of employment, security, basic infrastructure and means of livelihood as well as social welfare. In other words, the essence of democracy, to Nigerians, should include the delivery of the benefits of democracy in concrete terms and without much delay by the government" – Enarona Edosa, Nigeria (AFRREV IJAH 3(1) January 2014).
So! There is a preponderance of opinions and hardly any agreement about what is the essence of democracy that may be useful when we want to measure something whether it is democratic or not. I think the difficulty, nay the impossibility of arriving at a common view of the essence of democracy is that we rely only on human ideals like common good, accountability, majority rule, nonviolence, and even compromise. Those are all based on human intelligence alone.
Except three of the above. Eleven Media of Myanmar mentions morals as basic to the essence of democracy. And to the question "whence will democracy draw the resources of reason and prudence that will rule its instincts?" Anderson says Tocqueville's answer is: "through the vitality of religious and other associations – what are today commonly referred to as 'mediating institutions' – that occupy the region between the central power and the isolated individual." And Mahatma Gandhi says, I quote again, "Democracy must in essence mean the art and science of mobilizing the entire physical, economic and spiritual resources of all the various sections of the people in the service of the common good of all." Now then, as a Roman Catholic, I can say that the essence of democracy is the essence of the true, the beautiful and the good as defined by God. The rule of God is the rule of the people.

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