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Isn't diffusion of power more-or-less the point of democracy?
by non-cotton 6y ago
Isn't diffusion of power more-or-less the point of democracy?
- hyko 6y agoAbsolutely not. Western liberal democracy relies on centralised power; it’s not clear that it could function without it. As an extension of that, getting “power to the people” is usually the rallying cry of someone who wants to weaken the government enough to overpower it in some way.
- mkolodny 6y agoWhile most democratic governments currently involve some form of centralization, a pure democracy is one where every person has equal power. I believe that it's possible, and preferable for everyone to have the same amount of power. A democracy where every citizen has equal power would try to do what's best for as many people as possible.
- Pfhreak 6y agoIn that system, how do you care for folks who experience rare but serious difficulties. The tyranny of the majority gets real complex when dealing with massive populations.
- username90 6y agoEmpathy works as long as you don't create a us vs them situation. > The tyranny of the majority Has that ever happened or is that just an argument to let politicians keep their power?
- pessimizer 6y agoAre you asking if minorities have ever been oppressed by majorities? Does the Holocaust or Jim Crow count?
- mkolodny 6y agoGermany's power was centralized - Hitler was its dictator. I doubt that Germans would've voted to commit the atrocities Hitler commanded. Americans never voted on segregation. So we'll never know how much sooner black Americans would've been welcomed into society if all Americans had equal power.
- iguy 6y agoSure, lots of places. Ask the Kurds how much say they used to have in Turkish elections. Or ask the Welsh what they think about Westminster.
- Pfhreak 6y ago> Has that ever happened or is that just an argument to let politicians keep their power? Yes? American history is full of situations like Jim Crow, redlining, anti lgbtq legislation, lack of support for people with disabilities, criminalization of people experiencing homelessness, etc.
- username90 6y agoAll of those were done by representatives and not the electorate though?
- Pfhreak 6y agoThat's a pretty thin technicality. In many places those were majority opinions and the representatives were doing exactly what their electorate wanted them to do. If you'd like, I'm sure there are referendums and initiatives that are directly voted on that I could dig up. A quick search in my local area says WA initiative 192 was a case where the majority chose to deplete a shared resource (salmon) and failed to protect minority interests.
- non-cotton 6y agoI guess I should have said: what's the advantage of democracy over some more authoritarian scheme, if not a higher degree of "power to the people" as you put it? If diffusion of power isn't fundamentally worthwhile (and there's certainly a defensible position that it isn't) it seems the important question is whether Western liberal democracy is worth the trouble in the first place.
- arcticbull 6y agoOversight.
- fsflover 6y agoSo who performs the oversight over the tech monopolies?
- arcticbull 6y agoThe government, should they choose to take it up.