Over the ages a lot of written about democracy, some in favor of it, some against it. Praised in the name of liberty, and rejected in the same name. The idea of democracy has caused a lot controversy through all ages. The most commonly repeated criticism of democracy is that it amounts to mob rule, rule of the stupid, the uneducated, the ignorant. The problem with democracy like we know it today, democracy based on universal suffrage, is that the greatest number is of necessity the least enlightened, and consequently the least capable. On of the antinomies, contradictions, of the principle of universal suffrage is that, even thought meant to secure the rights and interests of the majority, in practice it more often than not comes down the opposite, the violation of the rights and interests of those it is meant to serve. The political capacity found in the greatest number is of necessity the least developed, and a lack of capacity and understanding the road to wrong decisions. Without the ability and the background knowledge to analyze facts and to reflect on them, the intention to do the right thing sometimes easily leads to the opposite of what was intended. For this very reason parents do not let young children make decisions all by themselves, but guide them and look over them so that they may not cause harm for themselves and others by their lack of experience and understanding.

The principle of universal suffrage as it is understood today, the right of each individual to vote independently of his capacity, has added another contradiction to democracy and rendered it even less practical than is was in the time of the old Greeks. Universal suffrage has robbed the children of the protection of their parents to use an analogy. If that was done deliberately to undermine the very thing it claimed to serve, namely the interest of the majority, I do not know, but what I do know, and what is obvious for those able to reflect on facts and history, is that it did precisely that. Universal suffrage has undermined democracy and brought us into the mess we have today, the rule of the media over the weak minded and defenseless masses that are unable to use reason and to reflect on the situation and are thus moving to the beat of the drums like slaves on a galere. What was sold to the masses as an universal blessing and source of liberty, has become an universal curse and source of tyranny. The masses were unable to render what was given to them. The French philosopher P.J. Proudhon understood the political limitations found in the average voter and the resulting implications quite well. Shortly before his death he wrote a whole volume on the subject; “De la capacité politique des classes ouvrières” (The Political Capacity of the Working-Classes), a work of which I sadly haven’t managed to get hold of in a translated version yet. The fallowing quotation is from his first major work, “What is Property?”, written in 1840. “The people, incapable as yet of sound judgment as to what is best for them, applaud indiscriminately the most opposite ideas, provided that in them they get a taste of flattery: to them the laws of thought are like the confines of the possible; to-day they can no more distinguish between a savant and a sophist, than formerly they could tell a physician from a sorcerer. Inconsiderately accepting, gathering together, and accumulating everything that is new, regarding all reports as true and indubitable, at the breath or ring of novelty they assemble like bees at the sound of a basin.” [1] To the human lemmings the logic behind an opinion doesn’t count as much as the power and popularity behind it, and the reason for this is simple, the popularity behind an opinion they usually notice, while its logic, or the lack thereof, in most cases remains hidden from them. “For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearances, as though they were realities, and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are.” [2] The Italian philosopher Machiavelli wrote a long time ago and I could not put it better. The average voter is like a child making its first steps in the world of the adults, a world to complex for him and full of things he does not understand, a world full of predators that want to deceive and harm him for their own benefit. Like a child, the average citizen, as long has he hasn’t reached the required level of mental development and understanding yet, needs protection and guidance, protection from the predators, protection from making the wrong decisions, and consequently protection from himself. He is in need of guardians that watch out and guide him just as children are in need of their parents. For without protection, without a guardian, a small child is easy prey for predators and parasites.

The majority of links in the chain of individuals a society is composed of are what we may call “weak links”. And as a rule, a chain is only as strong as the weakest link it is composed of. A chain made of a huge number of links of which the multitude are weak links that provide no or not much support, is by necessity weaker than a chain composed of less but stronger links providing more support. Quality here clearly wins over quantity! The old Greeks were aware of this and did not provide voting rights to all, just to those holding citizen rights, and in some cases, a certain amount of property also. Women, slaves, guest worker, and the like, were commonly excluded from voting and participation in political matters. This practice, even thought questionable in many aspects, never the less managed to reduce the number of weak links in the political chain and made the Greek democracy, like it existed in city states like Athens, somewhat more resistant against predators than are those shameful excuses for real democracy we see today. The democracy of ancient Athens also included various other forms of political participation apart from mere elections and the citizens were truly involved in the political process. Of course, even the forms of democracy seen in ancient Greece were still far from perfect and that in various aspects, the fact that only certain classes were able to participate in elections and other political matters for example was a possible source of social unrest and eventually revolts, and just because someone had citizen rights did not necessarily imply that he had the capacity for meaningful participation in political matters also. Citizen rights a son gained by birth right from his father, while his abilities, knowledge, and understanding, the raw capacity to gain them at some point, was not always transmitted. Never the less, the reduction of participants in the political process had overall a positive impact on the Greek city states because it made their form of democracy more feasible, functional, and meaningful than that what is today commonly sold as “democracy”. Today everyone is free to vote, the thing is that it does not seem to matter what people vote for or think anyway. Elections after elections we get the same empty rhetoric, lies, and propaganda, and in the end they do the opposite of what the people want them to do anyway. And why is this undemocratic behavior possible to continue year after year? It is possible because the majority are morons, human lemmings, so to speak, which are so easy manipulated that it is easy for the media to make them believe what they want them to believe and than to vote accordingly. By reading about the history of propaganda, or public relation like it is often called today, the reader is lead to believe that around the end of the 19. century the people discovered from one day of the next that empty rhetoric and lies are more successful in guiding the voter than are reason and arguments, which is a lie, or rather a half-truth. Vital information to understand the cause of this change are usually left out because they have become political incorrect and highly unpopular in our time. Namely that this change in tactics was the direct result of the introduction of universal suffrage and the inclusion of women and morons, “weak links”, into the chain of political participants in elections. The citizens of ancient Athens, not obstructed in the political process by unreasonable women and so many morons, would have chased a leadership as corrupt and rotten as what we see today here in the west out a long time ago. Including those not able to meaningful participate has crippled democracy and made possible a dictatorship of the few under the guise of majority rule. Proudhon noted that “the history of universal suffrage, among all nations, is the history of the restrictions of liberty by and in the name of the multitude.”[3]

Continue reading Reflexions on Democracy

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This appears written by an American or at least someone not familiar with Parliamentary democracy. The author also seems to not understand the concept of an enlightened public.

LOL. . . This article is an EPIC FAIL for so many reasons. . .

Firstly there are many different kinds of democacy and he failed to specify which he was slating. . . . What about totalitarian Democracy? There is no universal suffarage and no freedom of the press!

I think he also fails to understand, that in a Western Liberal Democracy (not just 'Democracy' as there are many kinds) democracy doesn't just stop at the ballot box.

Yea right! . . . Corruption was part and parcel of ancient Athenian political life. . . Did this guy do any research???? And there judiciary wasn't corrupt either? Did he forget the trail of Socrates?

Even if this guy had a point it was lost in all the poorly referenced similes and hypotheticals. I feel he is suffering from his own 'Weakest link' complex and should deny himself the right to vote

Democracy, liberty, freedom, terrorism etc are all subjective, abstract and therefore contentious notions. The ballot box is no more a measure of democratic credentials in Western liberal 'democratic' states than say the forceable removal of fingernails are necessarily symptomatic of tyrannical totalitarian states.

Oh yes... the typical "libertarian" argument against democracy:
"The people are smart enough to take care of themselves responsibly, (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)!... but they're way too (*)(*)(*)(*)ing stupid to make decisions about the country!"

I don't buy it.

1. Democracy is mostly about legitimate rule. That is why stabilized democracies are the least likely countries to revolt. In a democracy, people in fringe ideologies have legitimate ways to make their point publicly and can vote on representatives. When great masses of people feel screwed by the status quo, they vote for change- as opposed to having a violent revolution or splintering into guerilla armies.
Populism may often be short-sighted and misguided, but it is always a reaction to a real problem. Democracy is the only form of government that can be relied upon to pay attention to that problem. Giving in to a dumb populist agenda while keeping the basic structure of government is a hell of a lot better than just letting society crumble into an ongoing war.

2. All this worry about stupidity might be applicable to "direct democracy" (which is impossible IMO- and really what would happen is even lower turnout), it doesn't apply to representative democracy. Representatives must have at least some idea of what they are doing in order to keep things going well for constituents... or lacking that ability, being able to explain why things are not going well.
They are held accountable for results... not always in the most "enlightened" manner, but overall it works.

3. Democracy puts normal people into play as another check. Without this, elites could completely ignore them. I realize many self-styled "libertarians" think that's what liberty is... but it's really just plain... well, stupid. Why would elites see any need for an educated population? It suits them better to train the lower class as unquestioning workers without the literacy or logic to question their place.
Why should they be entirely dependent on the charity of the elites?
The mischaracterization given of many "social programs" is that they create this dependency. But in reality, their purpose (not that they always meet this) is to build up the poor so that they can achieve without being lucky enough to gain the affection of one of the nicer elites. You do need boots to pull up bootstraps.
Now, yes, these programs have flaws... but here's the funny part:
The "stupidity" argument places the blame squarely on the lower classes- you know, the people who are the least educated- and the people who DON'T VOTE.
Most of the problems in these programs are concessions to the middle class! Think of all the dumbest ones- bailing out homeowners who made bad deals, social security giving more money to the middle classer that overspends than the poor person who spends 100% out of necessity! These are concessions to the middle class.
Somehow it's welfare- a small part of the budget that's not perfect, but more or less well-targeted- that gets the lowest approval.
So what it comes down to... is that the biggest problem in voting is the middle class- people who are pretty well educated and voting for their own SHORT-SIGHTED SELF INTEREST.
That bolded part... It's the norm in all classes.
The more people voting, the more people who put a check on this phenomenon. The less terrible the policy... as we can only figure, the well-off would prefer no help for the lower classes... and many classes/interests want subsidies only for themselves.
The elites are no exception. If you think they are somehow less short-sighted or less self-interested, you're greatly overgeneralizing.

I think people who claim "people are stupid" tend to just ignore their own part in the stupidity.

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"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside