Author Topic: Whither, Democracy?  (Read 3174 times)

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Offline Super Colin Blow

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Re: Whither, Democracy?
« on: January 30, 2019, 04:07:14 pm »
The elites can shape the vote, leaders often shape consensus, not just wait for it to fall in place. When you get right down to it, a single voter in the US or Canada has maybe a bit more power as one in pre-Glasnost Russia--but not by much.

There are people who have more influence than others in democracies, not just in despotic regimes. There was an interesting book about the process of political survival (complex so I wont' get into it) where he spoke of the average voter as an "interchangeable", vs. a minority of voters who were more influential, or part of a leader's "winning coalition".

It's the best system, yes. So far. But if you went back to the court of Henry VIII, or George III, would you be able to convince any of them that the idea of our democracy (in the 21st century) would be way better than their powerful monarchy? Probably not. A few centuries ago, the democracy we have now just didn't exist. Jefferson poo-pooed the idea of democracy as tantamount to mob rule.

I believe it's the best system we can possibly come up for the moment. I just do not glorify it as the best we will ever come up with. Who can say what the future holds? Maybe Heinlein's idea, maybe something completely different.
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH