Reality of Democracy

“My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
— Isaac Asimov

This post will not blabber about the electoral vote or parties, there are many implementations of democracy — none of which are the topic here. This post is about the governing method, about the essence of democracy:

Let the people choose for themselves, and for everybody else.

Definition

As you probably know, democracy basically means “a government that reflects the people”. A majority of wise humans means a wise government, while a majority of baboons means the planet of the apes. The outcome will usually have a single result: If one candidate is experienced in battle and another is a financial genius — only one will be chosen, and that one will have to both pick a fight and manage your elderly future.

OK, you got me, this post is about the disadvantages of democracy. Don’t say “it’s the best option out there”, or “it’s the least worst option”, or “traitor” just yet, you’ll get to that later.

Skill

Please try answering the following questions: Do you know anything about education? If so, do you also know anything about finance? If so, do you also know anything about foreign affairs? If so, stop bragging because we could list many more government responsibilities and we would both be bored. By asking “do you know anything” I was really asking “do you know everything”, because from the few people that choose for all of us, I expect nothing but the best — simply knowing “anything” will not do.

I’m asking about yourself for two reasons: 1. In a democracy you might be a candidate, and 2. In a democracy you choose for everyone. A person unfamiliar with physics does not have the same “vote” as a physics professor, when questioned about what’s going on inside a particle. You may have voted for a governor your entire adult life, but you will still make the wrong choice (and even if you get it right, there’s a statistical majority that doesn’t).

But I’m not only talking about you: I would rather not choose or do anything I don’t know about, especially if I pay someone to do it for me. Just like I (personally) wouldn’t want to cook my own food, or build my own house. When you go to a fancy restaurant and pay decent cash for a decent meal, do you expect the waiter to ask you what ingredients would you like the chef to use?

Alternative

Now for the main response I get when talking about democracy out loud: “it’s the best option out there”.

Democracy is about 2,500 years old (I hope this post won’t last a century for this to become inaccurate). That’s a pretty old habit for a society to keep. Think about how much has changed in our society over the past 500 years. Someone engineered democracy, just like someone engineered dictatorship, just like someone engineered monarchy. People. And people will always be wrong: that’s how nature works — it evolves.

Keeping old habits just because it’s the best we know is not wrong, but killing creativity (in yourselves and others) is simply stopping our evolution. From horses to cars, from bows to guns, from dictatorship to democracy.

If you’d look hard you’ll find that just like in any other governing system, democracy has its own detrimental defenses. Once used, it will do its best to force itself upon you if you’d like it or not. Dictatorship is the victory of the brutes, monarchy is the victory of the dumb, and democracy is the victory of the politicians.

Conclusion

I have a few ideas for better and safer governing methods, but I’m sure yours will be better, and if not yours then your friend’s — because I know nothing about governments.