“I do not believe in the accepted Western form of democracy, with its universal voting for parliamentary representatives.” ~ Gandhi, in Louis Fischer’s A Week With Gandhi, p. 56

Well, that’s a shocker. What did he believe in? First of all, a polity informed by the spirit of nonviolence, as we have seen several times in these commentaries. Because only nonviolence guarantees the dignity of the individual and, as Gandhi practiced it, the ability for the individual to learn from his or her mistakes, which is diluted by parliamentary representation. Only nonviolence, primarily in the form of civil disobedience, provides a method of redressing grievances without rupturing relationships. “Even when demagogues (no names please) lose elections, the hatred they have kindled still smolders,” as one commentator said recently. “There are no quick fixes; we need a long-term plan.” Second, he believed in decentralization, which in India meant village-based societies. What it would mean in our society is not clear, but given the state into which our democracy has fallen, it may be time to take the Mahatma’s odd ideas seriously.

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About Daily Metta

Stephanie Van Hook, the Metta Center’s executive director, launched Daily Metta in 2015 as a way to share Gandhi’s spiritual wisdom and experiments with nonviolence.

Our 2016 Daily Metta continues with Gandhi on weekdays. On weekends, we share videos that complement Michael Nagler’s award-winning book, The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World. To help readers engage with the book more deeply, the Metta Center offers a free PDF study guide.

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