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Piece has a rather simplistic view of western democracy. Regular replacement of leaders isn’t useful if they all believe the same general doctrine and work tow

Piece has a rather simplistic view of western democracy. Regular replacement of leaders isn’t useful if they all believe the same general doctrine and work toward the same goals over many decades. The will of the people is not expressed in the western system either.

Comevius 5y ago
Case in point the United States lobbyist corruption. The will of the people is overshadowed by the will of large corporations.
tored 5y ago
A huge problem with western democracy is that even if the leader is replaced the political party remains. This breeds corruption and entitlement ("we are the only proper ruling party!") A few examples of political parties over a hundred years old US Democratic 1828 Republican 1854 Fought each other in the civil war, still at war. Sweden Socialdemokraterna 1889 Moderaterna 1904 Centerpartiet 1913 Vänsterpartiet 1917 And of course the two big ruling parties in Sweden are Socialdemokraterna and Moderaterna, the oldest ones. Centerpartiet used to be a ruling party. Denmark Venstre 1870 Socialdemokraterne 1871 Radikale Venstre 1905 Det Konservative Folkeparti 1915 Guess which are the two ruling parties? Norway Høyre 1884 Venstre 1884 Arbeiderpartiet 1887 Senterpartiet 1920 Norwegians correct me, my understanding is that Venstre used to be part of the ruling parties up until the war and then after that faded. Høyre and Arbeiderpartiet are still. UK Conservative 1834 Labour 1900 The two ruling parties obviously. Interesting is that France is somewhat the exception where younger political parties are quite common.
- hackeraccount 5y ago
  I can't speak to the other countries but in the United States there are in fact more or less 2 political parties. It's a winner take all system which tends to drive that for good or ill. I wouldn't take too much from that. What if for example the Republican party changed it's name tomorrow to the Democracy party. Would anything change from that? No, not really - it's all the same people with the same ideas. The politics are all the same. Now, what if the politics changed. What if the people who actually voted for the Republicans changed? What if these different people had different ideas and different interests? In that case the name would be the same but the party would be different.
  - tored 5y ago
    > What if the people who actually voted for the Republicans changed They probably have, but the party haven't (or changed in another direction). E.g. during the G.W. Bush years the republican base was more neocon, thus in line with the party, but during the Trump years the base was more anti-war and therefore not in line with the party establishment.

Comevius 5y ago

Case in point the United States lobbyist corruption. The will of the people is overshadowed by the will of large corporations.

tored 5y ago

A huge problem with western democracy is that even if the leader is replaced the political party remains. This breeds corruption and entitlement ("we are the only proper ruling party!") A few examples of political parties over a hundred years old US Democratic 1828 Republican 1854 Fought each other in the civil war, still at war. Sweden Socialdemokraterna 1889 Moderaterna 1904 Centerpartiet 1913 Vänsterpartiet 1917 And of course the two big ruling parties in Sweden are Socialdemokraterna and Moderaterna, the oldest ones. Centerpartiet used to be a ruling party. Denmark Venstre 1870 Socialdemokraterne 1871 Radikale Venstre 1905 Det Konservative Folkeparti 1915 Guess which are the two ruling parties? Norway Høyre 1884 Venstre 1884 Arbeiderpartiet 1887 Senterpartiet 1920 Norwegians correct me, my understanding is that Venstre used to be part of the ruling parties up until the war and then after that faded. Høyre and Arbeiderpartiet are still. UK Conservative 1834 Labour 1900 The two ruling parties obviously. Interesting is that France is somewhat the exception where younger political parties are quite common.

hackeraccount 5y ago
I can't speak to the other countries but in the United States there are in fact more or less 2 political parties. It's a winner take all system which tends to drive that for good or ill. I wouldn't take too much from that. What if for example the Republican party changed it's name tomorrow to the Democracy party. Would anything change from that? No, not really - it's all the same people with the same ideas. The politics are all the same. Now, what if the politics changed. What if the people who actually voted for the Republicans changed? What if these different people had different ideas and different interests? In that case the name would be the same but the party would be different.
- tored 5y ago
  > What if the people who actually voted for the Republicans changed They probably have, but the party haven't (or changed in another direction). E.g. during the G.W. Bush years the republican base was more neocon, thus in line with the party, but during the Trump years the base was more anti-war and therefore not in line with the party establishment.