Page 173 - Demo

156Islam, Democracy and Human Rights in Contemporary Indonesiaproduces chemical exchanges that serve as a mediated exchangeof information, regulating the structure of their collective life.The larger the ant colony, the tighter the control mechanismbecomes to regulate behavior and the distribution of food.Should an ant violate these rules and act selfishly, the samechemical reaction poisons it, causes blindness, and eventuallyit is devoured by other ants. Such is the range of their behavioralpatterns%u2014from individualistic tendencies to highly organizedcollective life.Let us now reflect on this analogy in relation to human life,which today encompasses an estimated eight billion people. Likeants, humans also exhibit three polarized patterns of life.The first polarization consists of people living in the FirstWorld, generally located in the United States, Western Europe,and the Scandinavian countries. Their economic resources arerelatively advanced compared to other parts of the world. Theirpopulations are smaller, and in some Scandinavian countries,they even have negative population growth. The lifestyle of thesesocieties tends to be more individualistic, rational, andmaterialistic, with loose ties to collective life. Individual freedomis dominant and placed above all else.From a political standpoint, these societies implementopen proportional electoral systems.For example, in the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election, thecontest was between the Democratic candidate Al Gore and theRepublican candidate George W. Bush. Bush narrowly won theelection with 271 electoral votes, while Gore obtained 266 votes%u2014a difference of just five votes. This led to a dispute over the vote