I’ve got issues with autocrats. Here’s an example on how bad my antiauthoritarianism is. I’ve a lot of friends who are in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronisms.) Basically they are Medieval renenactors. They dress up in period clothes, have interesting events and enjoy good food and drink. I’ve often joined them in archery practice. It’s all good fun, but I can’t join. They take their fake royalty too seriously. That’s a deal breaker for me.
I can’t even pretend to respect even fake royalty. Good thing I’m an American and not British. If the British want to keep pet royalty that’s their business. As for myself I’m glad we got rid of them. It was worth having a revolution to dump the silly gits.
Forget about living under a dictatorship. I don’t care how benevolent they are, they are still dictators. Most are tyrants and I hate tyrants in general.
Then there’s Theocracy: rule by a religious elite. If you want to ignore progress and science and claim all wisdom is in your holy book move to Iran. See how well that works for them.
It’s been said that Democracy is the worse system, except for all the other systems. It’s messy and imperfect, but it mostly works. As long as we have public servants we’ll do okay. When we start to have people who only care to rule we are in trouble. I’m hoping those would be dictators are rejected by most voters.
I don’t care of they come from the political right or the political left. Authoritarians are to be shunned for the evil that they are.
-Sixbears
Very true. Authoritarians are fundamentally alike. Communism is generally considered extreme-left and theocracy is generally considered extreme-right, but in practice regimes of both types are much more similar than different -- censorship, arbitrary arrest, persecution of dissenters, and the whole dreary inventory of thuggery.
ReplyDeleteDemocracy at least allows the ruled to hold the rulers accountable to some extent. In the form of a constitutional republic (as most modern democracies are), it allows the majority to rule while protecting the basic rights of the minority. It's probably the best system that can realistically exist.
Well said. Being imperfect humans we can't make a perfect system, but democracy seems to be better than anything else we've tried.
DeleteDemocracy is no better than a theocracy, a monarchy or any other such system. It is Mob Rule at the ballot box where 51% of voters can rape the other 49%. Which is why America was not founded as and never intended to be a Democracy. The biggest problem with a representational government is we allow morons and ignoramuses to vote. And they WILL ALWAYS vote for what feels good and profits them regardless of feasibility or fairness.
ReplyDeleteTo split hairs, yes, we are a republic. Your argument is not so much against democracy as it is for a better education system. Informed voters are necessary. I'll still take an imperfect democracy over all other systems.
DeleteNo democracy has EVER survived. It's a defective form of government. Which is why evil people work hard to fool the gullible into thinking we are supposed to be one.
DeleteJust a point, We are a Republic, not a true Democracy. The Democracy thing tends to be an illusion.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I noted that in the above comment. I've been using democracy as a sort of short hand but it's not totally accurate.
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