7 ms·

Democracies elect idiots "who wreck it all" all the time. That is not the problem with monarchies. The problem with monarchies is that a monarch will promote th

Democracies elect idiots "who wreck it all" all the time. That is not the problem with monarchies. The problem with monarchies is that a monarch will promote the interests of the monarch, the nobility will promote the interests of the nobility. Only a democracy will promote the interests of everybody. That is true whether we talk about a state or a company. > In case of a failing business, an employee is free to vote with his feet at any moment, moreover if he is valuable specialist in a competitive market. A non-democratic economy works for certain people under certain circumstances. That is simply not enough. Equating democratic elections, the act of freely chosing how you run your society, to what amounts to fleeing a sinking ship is beyond ridiculous. So is calling the US a command economy.

dragonwriter 8y ago
> Democracies elect idiots "who wreck it all" all the time. That is not the problem with monarchies. It actually is a recurring problem with monarchies (and often that's how democratic republics get established); heredity is no guarantee of competency.
- genericid 8y ago
  Nothing is a guarantee of competency. It's not a problem with monarchies, it's a problem with anything involving humans.
  - baybal2 8y ago
    True, and democracy here is a big red "emergency brake" button. In a monarchy or de-facto monarchy (all states that saw multiple presidents-for-life from the same family are in that bunch as well) you have none. Only alternatives given to people in them is to start a civil war.
    - null000 8y ago
      There's always assassination. Look a the Roman Empire - most of the truly catastrophic emperors were either assassinated, or nearly assassinated before they died of other means. Not that I'm advocating we go back to that or anything.
TangoTrotFox 8y ago
Your statement seems unfair. The people elected in democracies are not somehow uniquely benevolent and socially driven. They, at least in rolling with your worldview, once again will promote their own interests first. The election aspect changes very little. Our electorate is mostly poorly informed and easily manipulated. Try answering any question by asking 130 million people, of no qualification, after exposing them to months of emotionally charged misinformation, mud slinging, and FUD -- all carried out by the best manipulators money can buy. The answers you're going to get explain how we can have a 15% approval rating for the congress that we put into office. That said even though democracy is quite an awful system, it's probably the least awful of the alternatives. We, the people, are very unlikely to meaningfully change anything in any given election - but that power is, at least technically, there. Whereas if you have an awful monarch/dictator/life serving republic/etc then your only option is a bit messier.
- setr 8y ago
  > The answers you're going to get explain how we can have a 15% approval rating for the congress that we put into office. If the manipulation is completely and totally successful, then shouldn't they be able to maintain a higher approval rating than just 15%?
  - TangoTrotFox 8y ago
    After elections individual congressmen become completely invisible to nearly all of the voting public. How many voters could tell you just 5 things, positive or negative, that their congressman did during their last term? People who know nothing about what they're voting on don't suddenly become actively involved after voting. The only reason people care about the president is because he maintains a high visibility throughout his term. Even then it's very superficial. I'd be extremely surprised if the average voter could list 5 actual effected policy decisions of Obama that they liked/disliked. Yet they will love or loath him in spite of the lack of that knowledge. The various videos demonstrating this effect are my favorite. Individuals will be surveyed on what they think of described "Obama" policies, which are actually Trump policies - or vice versa. Their view on the policy invariably has little to nothing to do with the actual policy, and everything to do with the name attached to it.
pdonis 8y ago
> Democracies elect idiots "who wreck it all" all the time. > Only a democracy will promote the interests of everybody. Doesn't the first statement contradict the second?

dragonwriter 8y ago

> Democracies elect idiots "who wreck it all" all the time. That is not the problem with monarchies. It actually is a recurring problem with monarchies (and often that's how democratic republics get established); heredity is no guarantee of competency.

genericid 8y ago
Nothing is a guarantee of competency. It's not a problem with monarchies, it's a problem with anything involving humans.
- baybal2 8y ago
  True, and democracy here is a big red "emergency brake" button. In a monarchy or de-facto monarchy (all states that saw multiple presidents-for-life from the same family are in that bunch as well) you have none. Only alternatives given to people in them is to start a civil war.
  - null000 8y ago
    There's always assassination. Look a the Roman Empire - most of the truly catastrophic emperors were either assassinated, or nearly assassinated before they died of other means. Not that I'm advocating we go back to that or anything.

TangoTrotFox 8y ago

Your statement seems unfair. The people elected in democracies are not somehow uniquely benevolent and socially driven. They, at least in rolling with your worldview, once again will promote their own interests first. The election aspect changes very little. Our electorate is mostly poorly informed and easily manipulated. Try answering any question by asking 130 million people, of no qualification, after exposing them to months of emotionally charged misinformation, mud slinging, and FUD -- all carried out by the best manipulators money can buy. The answers you're going to get explain how we can have a 15% approval rating for the congress that we put into office. That said even though democracy is quite an awful system, it's probably the least awful of the alternatives. We, the people, are very unlikely to meaningfully change anything in any given election - but that power is, at least technically, there. Whereas if you have an awful monarch/dictator/life serving republic/etc then your only option is a bit messier.

setr 8y ago
> The answers you're going to get explain how we can have a 15% approval rating for the congress that we put into office. If the manipulation is completely and totally successful, then shouldn't they be able to maintain a higher approval rating than just 15%?
- TangoTrotFox 8y ago
  After elections individual congressmen become completely invisible to nearly all of the voting public. How many voters could tell you just 5 things, positive or negative, that their congressman did during their last term? People who know nothing about what they're voting on don't suddenly become actively involved after voting. The only reason people care about the president is because he maintains a high visibility throughout his term. Even then it's very superficial. I'd be extremely surprised if the average voter could list 5 actual effected policy decisions of Obama that they liked/disliked. Yet they will love or loath him in spite of the lack of that knowledge. The various videos demonstrating this effect are my favorite. Individuals will be surveyed on what they think of described "Obama" policies, which are actually Trump policies - or vice versa. Their view on the policy invariably has little to nothing to do with the actual policy, and everything to do with the name attached to it.

pdonis 8y ago

> Democracies elect idiots "who wreck it all" all the time. > Only a democracy will promote the interests of everybody. Doesn't the first statement contradict the second?