The principal value that governs the quality of democracy is trust. There are seven other values that must be in place before people will trust each other and their government. Each value is dependent on the adoption and practice of the previous value. The sequence of values that dictate the quality of democracy are as follows: freedom, equality, accountability, justice, fairness, openness and transparency. Once all these values are in place then trust can be found. Trust is the value that enables nations to become internally cohesive.
Freedom: One of the two fundamental values on which democracy is based is freedom—the freedom to voice your opinions and the freedom to vote for a candidate of your choice to represent you in a local or national election. For freedom to be fully embodied, anyone in a given community must be able to put themselves forward for election.
Equality: The second fundamental value on which democracy is based is equality—the recognition that, if you have the right to freedom and everything that comes with that right, then all others who live in the same community should have the same rights as well. No individual or group should be marginalized or treated differently from all other groups.
Accountability: This naturally leads to the value of accountability—the practice of responsible freedom. If everyone agrees that freedom and equality are important, then everyone must take responsibility and accountability for making sure that all their actions are in support of these values. This includes those who are elected as representatives of the people, those in position of public authority and the population themselves. Furthermore those who serve at the pleasure of the people must be fully accountable to the people who elected them for how they discharge their public responsibilities.
Justice: This naturally leads to the value of justice—the process that assures that people take accountability for their actions. No one should be above the law. An independent judiciary guarantees that those in power will be held to account if they commit any wrongdoings. In authoritarian regimes leaders are not held accountable for their actions and dispel justice as they see fit. In a democracy everyone is equal before the law.
Fairness: This naturally leads to the value of fairness—the practice of being accountable before the law for living the value of equality. Justice is one of the ways of guaranteeing fairness. Unfairness arises when people are not held accountable for ensuring that their actions support the value of equality. Fairness requires that there is no discrimination in any community against persons of different races, religions, political affiliations, ages, genders and sexual preferences.
Openness: This naturally leads to the value of openness—the process by which fairness can be guaranteed. Openness requires that those in authority fully disclose their motivations in making decisions. Motivations must be disclosed for openness to be lived. Decisions cannot be made behind closed doors in an open society.
Transparency: This naturally leads to the value of transparency—the demonstration of openness and the disclosure of all documents and materials that indicate how decisions have been made. The best way to ensure transparency is to make sure that every aspect of the process by which decisions are made is open to public view. Nothing must be hidden for transparency to be lived.
Only when the values of freedom, equality, accountability, justice, fairness, openness and transparency are collectively embodied in the systems processes and policies of governance and individually embodied in the elected representatives and those in authority can trust be established and democracy be regarded as mature.
