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Has I said in another comment, it is not about education or intelligence. Read the article. The politicians trying to intimidate the St Louis Post Dispatch have

Has I said in another comment, it is not about education or intelligence. Read the article. The politicians trying to intimidate the St Louis Post Dispatch have a history of intimidation against journalists. Demagoguery is unfortunately a chronic condition of democracy.

pbhjpbhj 5y ago
Any thoughts on how to tailor political systems to work around demagoguery but maintain functioning democracy?
- denton-scratch 5y ago
  What's democracy? Is that when stuff gets done to you by corrupt politicians, and you have to shut up and suck it, except that every few years you get to swap one bunch of corrupt politicians for another bunch?
  - bjornsing 5y ago
    Yes. You pretty much nailed it.
- skywal_l 5y ago
  If only I knew... Might be worth reading de Tocqueville[0] again I guess. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_in_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_in_America
- MR4D 5y ago
  We already have it - it’s the 3 branches of government that provide for an independent judiciary.
  - skywal_l 5y ago
    In theory. I believe the system was setup to ensure that the judicial system is independent from the executive branch. However, we have seen the nefarious influence of money in politics which is now starting to encroach on the judicial system too: https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-judges-brokers-traded-stocks-of-litigants-during-cases-walmart-pfizer-11634306192 https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-judges-brokers-traded-s... https://iadllaw.org/2020/09/more-than-200-lawyers-file-judicial-complaint-against-judge-lewis-a-kaplan-over-abusive-targeting-of-human-rights-advocate-steven-donziger/ https://iadllaw.org/2020/09/more-than-200-lawyers-file-judic...
  - pbhjpbhj 5y ago
    In USA? Judiciary are political appointees aren't they. Apologies if that was a joke.
    - MR4D 5y ago
      It depends. Some are elected and some are appointed. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.
- rsynnott 5y ago
  Not having a single person be the executive likely helps. In a parliamentary democracy, the prime minister would have to tell the justice minister to do this. The justice minister would likely refuse. The prime minister’s recourse would be to fire the justice minister and get a new one appointed, but that’s a big step. Assuming that’s overcome, the new compliant justice minister would have to tell the public prosecutor to do it. In many countries that’s an independent office, and the justice minister wouldn’t have much standing. So you’re back to trying to fire people, and the petty vindictive prosecution is turning into a government-ending event; the PM is likely to be seeking alternative employment… Executive presidency/governor systems, like those used in the US, have a generally higher dependency on individuals behaving properly.

pbhjpbhj 5y ago

Any thoughts on how to tailor political systems to work around demagoguery but maintain functioning democracy?

denton-scratch 5y ago
What's democracy? Is that when stuff gets done to you by corrupt politicians, and you have to shut up and suck it, except that every few years you get to swap one bunch of corrupt politicians for another bunch?
- bjornsing 5y ago
  Yes. You pretty much nailed it.
skywal_l 5y ago
If only I knew... Might be worth reading de Tocqueville[0] again I guess. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_in_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_in_America
MR4D 5y ago
We already have it - it’s the 3 branches of government that provide for an independent judiciary.
- skywal_l 5y ago
  In theory. I believe the system was setup to ensure that the judicial system is independent from the executive branch. However, we have seen the nefarious influence of money in politics which is now starting to encroach on the judicial system too: https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-judges-brokers-traded-stocks-of-litigants-during-cases-walmart-pfizer-11634306192 https://www.wsj.com/articles/federal-judges-brokers-traded-s... https://iadllaw.org/2020/09/more-than-200-lawyers-file-judicial-complaint-against-judge-lewis-a-kaplan-over-abusive-targeting-of-human-rights-advocate-steven-donziger/ https://iadllaw.org/2020/09/more-than-200-lawyers-file-judic...
- pbhjpbhj 5y ago
  In USA? Judiciary are political appointees aren't they. Apologies if that was a joke.
  - MR4D 5y ago
    It depends. Some are elected and some are appointed. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.
rsynnott 5y ago
Not having a single person be the executive likely helps. In a parliamentary democracy, the prime minister would have to tell the justice minister to do this. The justice minister would likely refuse. The prime minister’s recourse would be to fire the justice minister and get a new one appointed, but that’s a big step. Assuming that’s overcome, the new compliant justice minister would have to tell the public prosecutor to do it. In many countries that’s an independent office, and the justice minister wouldn’t have much standing. So you’re back to trying to fire people, and the petty vindictive prosecution is turning into a government-ending event; the PM is likely to be seeking alternative employment… Executive presidency/governor systems, like those used in the US, have a generally higher dependency on individuals behaving properly.