Happy Guy Fawkes Day, New Zealand and Great Britain!
Here in Canada, we don't celebrate this holiday ... but it would be good if we had a reason to. What passes as "democracy" in this country is disgraceful. We have a federal election every 4-years or so, and the politicians can make whatever promises they want to get the electorate's attention. Our most powerful broadcaster (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) is 100% publicly funded, so they promote whichever pro-socialism candidate who offers them the most money, and the sheep blindly follow.
After elected, there are no mechanisms in place to hold them accountable to their promises. The locally-elected candidates for the ruling party are required to support the party line, even if their constituents don't. And since that situation exists, they really don't try to find out what the people who voted for them think. Instead of representing the electorate's interests at the policy table, they spend their time "selling" the government position / agenda to their constituents! So every election term basically gives us a 4-year tyranny.
As a result, voter turnout continues to diminish, so that a full 1/3 of the electorate doesn't vote anymore ... a number which grows each election. What's happening is that 1/3 of eligible voters are saying, "None of the above." There are times when I'm ashamed of what my country is becoming. Perhaps we need a Bolshevik Revolution or a Guy Fawkes so that true democracy will return ... but I have no hopes this will happen. We reached rubicon a long time ago.
Had to rant ... and this seemed like the right occasion. I think I'll go play my guitar, and see if I can delude myself into thinking everything's okay for a few moments.