Bad when its Good? Is Democracy the way Forward?

Going into my last year of high school, where I should go in my life is becoming an increasingly important question in my life. As different possibilities and opportunities open up I've ended up thinking to myself... who wants to be a politician? I mean really how many people aspire to be the president.

I feel I would be a lost cause going into politics as it is a forum that is not democratic, no matter how much anyone wants to argue otherwise. There are the political giant that will just squash you off the scene if you won't agree with their ideals.

It got me thinking about how many politicians are really good people, truly working for the good of their country. Only one name came to mind. Nelson Mandela. He is the only example of a politician that can be recorded in the books as a man of integrity. How many politicians have shamed their country with their lust or greed. I think that too often these antics are "wiped away" by specialist organizations that will do all they can to preserve an upright image of their government. Some countries do it better than others, possibly because their governments are more dishonest than others, but all countries have few if any politicians of integrity.

I realized that the only circumstances under which I would become a politician would be if there was a problem in the country that I could fight against, something that I feel passionately about. Apartheid in South Africa would definitely qualify. if I was the same age twenty/thirty years ago, I would have been behind Mandela all the way up the political road.

Now when South Africa is on an even keel, there are unethical baboons such as Jacob Zuma at the top of the pecking order. When a country is going well, the politicians are in it for the money!

It leads me to question the whole democratic system in which a political arty is voted in on its manipulative power rather than its leadership prowess. Should the global village re-look at our model for government? Ten thousand years ago the strongest man would have decided the fate of his community. That changed to a lineage of royalty. Recently only leading into the current democratic system.

Where to from here? We are by no means at a perfect system. Who knows could web 2.0 have a significant effect on the way we are governed in the future? Could the internet create the heirachy that we will soon call parliament?

Please share your thoughts on this issue...