The Brexit Thread (topical thread)

[grympy]

And people like this are aloud to vote? Shocking.

Oh my fucking god. Your post is offensive on so many levels.

With voter engagement currently so shithouse you say "people like this are aloud to vote"? REALLY?

Democracy works because people vote, and everyone's vote is equal. Everyone. Doesn't matter their education, disability, sexual preference, or political affiliation. Rule by the elite is what you have in China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, UAE...

Everyone's vote is equal? Really. You can prove that of course? 

I'm not entirely sure it's reasonable to assume democracy  actually works as it's meant to anywhere. By that I mean in line within the basic dictionary definitions of democracy 


Merriam Webster:

"Definition of democracy

1a : government by the people especially : rule of the majority

b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections  "

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/democracy


 Encyclopeadia Britannica:

"Democracy, literally, rule by the people. The term is derived from the Greek dēmokratiā, which was coined from dēmos (“people”) and kratos (“rule”) in the middle of the 5th century bce to denote the political systems then existing in some Greek city-states, notably Athens."

https://www.britannica.com/topic/democracy

Also  worth noting that Athenian Democracy was not even close to democracy as we understand the term . Only about 1/3 of the Athenian population were eligible to vote; women and slaves could not vote. Athenian democracy was nothing like either the Parliamentary /Westminster or Republican  styles of democracy used today. It was actually rule by referendum.  All eligible voters voted on every important matter. 

In modern democracy, we get to vote for a bunch of  venal  incompetents we have not chosen . Those chosen   are meant to represent the people who voted for them.  This rarely happens  in a Parliamentary democracy. The majority of members on both sides, belong to a party.  It is the party which  (pre)selects the candidates . Once elected, every member is expected to vote on party lines unless given leave for a conscience vote.This is rare.  Members who 'cross the floor'  are often dismissed from their party. That means no preselection in the next election, which means they will probably lose their seat. 


 It  becomes even more  of a farce when over 40% of the electorate don't bother to vote. (as happened in the last US elections)  

Socrates did not approve of democracy.  He argued that leaders needed to be trained, not chosen as "the first  among equals" 

"In the dialogues of Plato, the founding father of Greek Philosophy – Socrates – is portrayed as hugely pessimistic about the whole business of democracy. In Book Six of The Republic, Plato describes Socrates falling into conversation with a character called Adeimantus and trying to get him to see the flaws of democracy by comparing a society to a ship. If you were heading out on a journey by sea, asks Socrates, who would you ideally want deciding who was in charge of the vessel? Just anyone or people educated in the rules and demands of seafaring? The latter of course, says Adeimantus, so why then, responds Socrates, do we keep thinking that any old person should be fit to judge who should be a ruler of a country?"

https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebooko...democracy/


Thought for today: "The strongest argument against democracy; spend 10 minutes talking to the average voter"  (Winston Churchill)