Democracy is a vehicle for discussion for and by the people

Eminent social and political thinker, Ernest Barker, in his ‘Social and Political Theory’ describes political democracy as a system of government by which each citizen lays his/her mind alongside other minds in a voluntary process of common debate and mutual persuasion. This is the principle of toleration and compromise which form part and parcel of political democracy. All the citizens put together their views and values relating to individual needs and wants and choose the ones which are of common benefit by way of discussion and debate and make them effective by themselves. This is the adherence to the give and take policy.   

Needs and wants acceptable by all
Needs and wants acceptable to all are implemented without a debate, but whenever there are differences of opinion such matters should be discussed. In the discussions, pros and cons regarding individual needs and wants are expressed and exposed so that such needs and wants of the majority can be taken for granted. In the process of giving way to the majority certain individual needs and wants may have to be ignored but no individual should be disappointed because the majority, will stands for the common good in the best possible way.  

 
Right of everyone to take part in discussions and debates 
Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his/ her country. Discussion is the necessary and vital process of the life of an organized community and each and every member is entitled to contribute in the process. To be entitled to contribute to the discussion is the same thing as the right to take part in the government; for the process of political discussion is the essential activity of a government in a politically-organized community. In Athens all the members in the society participated in discussions but today it is not possible to assemble every person individually in one place because of the vast number of interested persons in the community. Hence in fairness to everyone the system of representation is adopted.  

 
The process of political discussion has evolved in the course of time giving rise to a number of organs, for its operation. These organs distinct and yet connected, form a necessary series in which, as in a relay race each of them hands to another the task of carrying on from the point which he has reached himself. We may distinguish four of these organs and proceed to trace their connection   
First organization of political discussion- Political Party

The first organization of political discussion is the political party. The Party is a social formation which also discharges a political function and has thus, as it had, one foot in society and one in the State. Each party is a voluntary association but each party also formulates a political programme for the consideration and choice of the political electorate and each party submits, to the vote of that electorate, candidates for election to the Parliament who offer themselves as symbols and exponents of its programme. 

At the first stage or lap in the process of discussion each party discusses with its own counsels the programme which it proposes to formulate and each, when the programme is formulated, proceeds to discuss and debate it in public, before an attentive electorate with the other party or parties.   

Political Electorate - an organ of discussion especially in periods of elections
The turn then comes to the second organ, the political electorate. That too is an organ of discussion at any rate in periods of elections. This is not to say that the political electorate is dead or ceases to think and interrogate in intervals between such periods and or periods when elections are not conducted. It canvases and considers the programmes and examines and cross-examines the candidates submitted to it for choices and when it has made the choice it hands over further conduct of discussion to the representatives whom they had chosen trusting them to carry it into far greater detail and carry it on with a far greater degree of continuity than it can possibly do itself.   

Parliament - core and the centre of the whole system of representative democracy
The third organ then succeeds in its turn to the same double task of conducting the discussion itself and the task of preparing the way for further and later discussion. This is the core and the centre of the whole system of representative democracy; the parliament which as its very name indicates is peculiarly engaged in the activity of “Parly” and constant discussion. However, the function of parliament like that of the electorate is a two-fold function. 

It is not only an organ of discussion engaged in the process of constant debate intended to translate a general programme into legislative enactments; it also helps to create and it continuously serves to support a government which it expects and trusts to carry discussions into even greater detail and to conduct it even more continuously and intimately than it is able to do itself.   

Cabinet: the organ of Government par-excellence
The fourth and the last organ in the successive series is the cabinet, the responsible government. This is the organ of government par-excellence (though also and at the same time, only one of a number of organs of government in the wider sense of the word) and which is therefore commonly called The Government. 

The Government is responsible in the sense that it must necessarily command the support of the representative body from which its members are drawn; but it may also said to be responsible in another and even deeper sense. It is responsible for carrying the process of discussion to that crucial and final point at which it takes decisions (Cabinet decisions) A responsible Government organized under its head is at once the innermost core of discussion and the originating motor of action. The decision which it accordingly gives is necessarily final and absolutely conclusive. The decision on any grave issue will flow back as it were to the representative body for approval and confirmation. 
It may even flow back to the electorate either for informal approval and confirmation by what we call public opinion or even for formal approval by an electoral vote in a general election at which a proposed decision is made in a main or dominant issue. The process of discussion may thus return on itself. After flowing from the electorate, the representative body – the Parliament and then to the responsible government- the Cabinet it may in turn flow back from the government to the representatives and then turn to the electors. Thus under democracy decisions on preservation of liberty, equality and fraternity and the satisfaction of wants and needs of the people and are taken by representatives on behalf of the people.