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I find it interesting that in politics it's generally regarded a truism that everyone with the right to vote should vote. We don't say everyone should make up
by gnode 7y ago
I find it interesting that in politics it's generally regarded a truism that everyone with the right to vote should vote.
We don't say everyone should make up their mind on whether somebody is guilty of a crime -- we say a few specially informed jurors should make that determination.
This makes me wonder whether demarchy / sortition / Athenian democracy (rule by the randomly selected; similar to juries) is superior to elective democracy.
- bluGill 7y agoI always counter everybody should vote with make sure you are informed first. A republic is a terrible system of government, but we haven't found anything better.
- gnode 7y ago> A republic is a terrible system of government, but we haven't found anything better. Variations of this quote are often banded about to apologise for and defend the imperfections of given democracies. It shuts down questions of electoral reform with the straw-man of autocracy. Not all democracies are equal.
- bluGill 7y agoI'm asserting a republic is better than a democracy. There are minor variations of republics and how they elect people with resulting variations. However they are all better than alternatives (including democracy).
- gnode 7y agoI'm not sure the governmental form of republic is terribly useful to discussions of fairness or freedom in societies. Norway, Sweden, Denmark and New Zealand appear at the top of the Democracy Index, and are democratic constitutional monarchies. North Korea, Syria, Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic are republics and among the most tyrannous societies.
- filoleg 7y ago> North Korea, Syria, Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic are republics and among the most tyrannous societies. I don't know about every single country on the list, but at least the one I am somewhat informed about (North Korea) is a republic only in name, as it is pretty much an authoritarian dictatorship state controlled by the military class.