Have you noticed that all political-economic systems advocate "democracy"? It is the most used and abused word in the lexicon of Western countries. That is because humanity yearns for it and have struggled for it for thousands of years. Rarely do the advocates make any effort to define what they mean by the word. The writer of this article does.
Socialism would mean a massive expansion of democracy. Instead of simply voting for representatives every few years, while the real decisions are made behind the scenes in corporate boardrooms, socialist democracy would bring collective decision making into the day-to-day functioning of every workplace, neighborhood, school and university. Elected workplace committees would replace bosses. Neighborhood, workplace, and school councils, holding regular meetings, would send representatives to expanded city and regional councils. In turn, such regional councils would elect national representatives.In contrast to this description are the implied descriptions of capitalist spokespeople that democracy is voting in elections. Because capitalist ruling classes have learned how to hold elections in which they select who gets to run for office, they strongly equate elections with democracy. But, of course, we know better.
