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Well yeah, in a democracy popular opinion will force you to do things if you want to win the next election. If you want proof that Merkel's instinct wasn't enti

by rob74 6y ago

Well yeah, in a democracy popular opinion will force you to do things if you want to win the next election. If you want proof that Merkel's instinct wasn't entirely wrong, you can take a look at the results of the 2013 election: her party (CDU/CSU) gained 7,7 points to 41,5 percent, while the FDP, who were seen as representing the industrial lobby, dropped a whopping 9,8 points to 4,8 percent (and out of the Bundestag, because a party has to get at least 5% to be represented there).

ChuckNorris89 6y ago
>in a democracy popular opinion will force you to do things if you want to win the next election Well, there's the problem with our type of democracy. It boils down to a popularity contest instead of a competence one, so politicians will do or say whatever gets them re-elected instead of what's good for the long term being of the country/voters/society. Much like the focus on the "next quarter" of CEOs, that ends up ruining companies long term at the expense of quick profits short term, politicians in the west focus only on the "next election" instead of major issues like housing, education, pensions, demographics, infrastructure, defense, immigration, all of which require long term planning to get right but nobody cares as they just keep kicking the can down the road and hope they won't be in the office by the time shit really hits the fan. And when the shit does eventually hit the fan, whoever will be in office will just blame the predecessors for knowing X was unsustainable and not having done anything about it. Rinse and repeat.
- toyg 6y ago
  I don't disagree, western democracy is still the worst system of government except for all others that have been tried from time to time. Solutions to short-termism are very welcome, but more often than not they tend to boil down to "someone stays in power for decades", which is not really desirable, is it?
  - ChuckNorris89 6y ago
    >"someone stays in power for decades", which is not really desirable, is it? Which is super ironic as Merkel has been in power since forever, well, 15 years to be exact, but still, way longer than most other EU or western governments.
    - toyg 6y ago
      But as mentioned, she had to steer her policies several times to do so. Democracy in action.
  - dsign 6y ago
    There is a simple solution to short-termism: create strong incentives for people to learn in depth about the topics they will press the politicians about. Even better, down that same road you can get effective direct democracy where everybody has a direct vote for the laws, and the legislative is no longer a representative body.
- wazoox 6y ago
  Notice that the devolution of democracy into a "popularity contest" isn't a given: the French "Convention citoyenne pour le climat" proved that informed (and not propagandized) citizens can make rational political choices when given a chance.
- contravariant 6y ago
  You can either see it as a problem or as its main feature. It's not great but at least it's better than public opinion having 0 effect on policy.

by rob74 6y ago

ChuckNorris89 6y ago

>in a democracy popular opinion will force you to do things if you want to win the next election Well, there's the problem with our type of democracy. It boils down to a popularity contest instead of a competence one, so politicians will do or say whatever gets them re-elected instead of what's good for the long term being of the country/voters/society. Much like the focus on the "next quarter" of CEOs, that ends up ruining companies long term at the expense of quick profits short term, politicians in the west focus only on the "next election" instead of major issues like housing, education, pensions, demographics, infrastructure, defense, immigration, all of which require long term planning to get right but nobody cares as they just keep kicking the can down the road and hope they won't be in the office by the time shit really hits the fan. And when the shit does eventually hit the fan, whoever will be in office will just blame the predecessors for knowing X was unsustainable and not having done anything about it. Rinse and repeat.

toyg 6y ago
I don't disagree, western democracy is still the worst system of government except for all others that have been tried from time to time. Solutions to short-termism are very welcome, but more often than not they tend to boil down to "someone stays in power for decades", which is not really desirable, is it?
- ChuckNorris89 6y ago
  >"someone stays in power for decades", which is not really desirable, is it? Which is super ironic as Merkel has been in power since forever, well, 15 years to be exact, but still, way longer than most other EU or western governments.
  - toyg 6y ago
    But as mentioned, she had to steer her policies several times to do so. Democracy in action.
- dsign 6y ago
  There is a simple solution to short-termism: create strong incentives for people to learn in depth about the topics they will press the politicians about. Even better, down that same road you can get effective direct democracy where everybody has a direct vote for the laws, and the legislative is no longer a representative body.
wazoox 6y ago
Notice that the devolution of democracy into a "popularity contest" isn't a given: the French "Convention citoyenne pour le climat" proved that informed (and not propagandized) citizens can make rational political choices when given a chance.
contravariant 6y ago
You can either see it as a problem or as its main feature. It's not great but at least it's better than public opinion having 0 effect on policy.