I find myself in a political dilemma: on the one hand, I think that election by universal suffrage is a real absurdity. Most people have very limited knowledge of economics, geopolitics or complex issues, and I often wonder what their vote is based on to really improve the country's lot.
On the other hand, I'm aware that our democratic system is still far preferable to a totalitarian regime. And that's where I get stuck intellectually: I'm deeply critical of the way the popular vote works, while recognizing that democracy, imperfect as it may be, remains the lesser evil.
I am similarly inclined and think people sadly vote for beer and circuses.
However I do trust in the great commonsense of the common people. They will get it badly wrong one election and correct the next.
It is emerging that brain structure is important to our political perspective; to the point that an MRI can reasonably predict political outlook.
Cognitive thinkers tend to be fearful conservatives and hysterical thinkers tend to be try anything liberals. Hysterical in this context means reasoning emotionally (by memes/slogans) rather than if A=B and B=C then A=C thinking. Woke is the very archetype of hysterical thinking.
Surprise! There are innate conservatives and liberals but there are conservative-liberals or liberal-conservatives and it is probably the latter that determine election results. Most likely they can be persuaded either way.
As they have some internal conflict, that group is likely to think more profoundly. And small numbers can matter. (In my country, my post election analysis showed less than a 1,000 votes would have held off a landslide loss). Usually political parties go for the center for this reason.
You have studied a lot and so entitled to be elitist in view but I think you are unduly pessimistic.
I don't believe in popular wisdom. I'm going to use a vulgar term for once, but for me, popular wisdom is complete bullshit. When I look at the US, France, etc., I see that "the people can correct their mistakes in new elections" is generally not the case.
Our difference is that I think there is a people's center which I also call the great commonsense of the common people.
Sometimes the elite go too far away from the people's center. It might be the Left and the right is dragged left because they think that is where the center is due to noise. It can be in reverse as well.
With the major parties having effectively a common policy, the people don't have anywhere to go. Suddenly a popular figure emerges, who knows where the center actually is. People run to the banner on the hill.
Elites are like 'what the hell happened?'. That certainly happened in our recent referendum. A great gnashing of teeth afterwards
Seems to me that is what happened in the US. And is what is /will be happening in a number of Western countries.
I possibly suffer from elite anti-elitism however.
The best form of governance would obviously be a dictatorship, where the dictator is intelligent and moral. Unfortunately, that's not really practical, as you still need a means of selection, and everyone has a different idea of what constitutes intelligent and moral. Plus, as Douglas Adams wrote: "It is a well-known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. ... Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job". If you have a monarchy, you don't have to worry about the selection process, but then there's no reason to believe the monarch would be intelligent or moral.
So you are left with a democracy, as a compromise. Of course, not all democracies are equal, and American democracy is among the least democratic. It wouldn't take too much to significantly improve it though - scrap the electoral college system, introduce proportional representation, restrict lobbying, scrap the constitution (or at the very least, accept that it can and should be amended, and make that easier), and punish media outlets for consistently and knowingly spreading demonstrably false information - not that any of that is going to happen, of course...
It might not be such a bad idea to make it so voting is a right that must be earned in some way. For example, Switzerland still has compulsory national service, where young men must either serve in the military for a short time, or perform civilian service instead (basically, community service, caring for the elderly, working in hospitals, etc). In Starship Troopers, federal service is not compulsory, but it does grant various benefits, including the right to vote and hold office. That ensures you don't end up with someone like old bonespurs as President, potentially sending your children off to war.
We should make EU wide obligatory IQ test for people over 18 and people who score under 120 should be deprived of participation in elections. They are simple too limited to understand many things. Of course high IQ doesn't guarantee an complete understanding of political and national issues and doesn't make someone immune to ideological manipulation, but high IQ person can at least understand simple mechanics of populists and other ideological charlatans use to exploit dumb people. Meanwhile I made the observation the left and the right wing politics focuses even more on those mentally limited people with comprehension handicap than people who have a little bit situational awareness what happens around them.
“I'm deeply critical of the way the popular vote works, while recognizing that democracy, imperfect as it may be, remains the lesser evil.”
I don’t think you are an “elitist” by any means. You have doubts about whether or not your country is going in the right direction. You wonder where everyone’s mind space is at who casts their ballot. You wonder where the direction they actually want to take the country in and if that is what the people actually need in reality.
You have a lot of opinions and a lot of worries, that is normal. Everyone has that. If you were an “elitist” you’d want certain people to vote and try to push an agenda where the few have control over elections and that the wealthy get their way before the people do, at least that’s how my mind takes it.
It is clear you understand democracy, though with the flaws it has is the better system (lesser than two evils) than an autocratic regime where it is one man who runs the show for his own benefit. That makes you a populist and an everyday citizen, not an elitist by any means.
Nice little propaganda piece trying to lay the groundwork to position an authoritarian dictatorship as a palatable choice 2 years ahead of an election. Sorry, go tell the Heritage Foundation you need a better script. Their pseudo intellectual argument for totalitarian rule by the landed aristocracy who are (ahem) "qualified" to make decisions for everyone else, isn't selling well with the unwashed masses. We've seen this movie a few times already.
But tell the Heritage Foundation assholes I'm very impressed they didn't have you come right out and say that only rich White males should have the right to vote. Or is that script sitting on the shelf for future release?
No, I clearly have trust issues with social media, well funded propaganda, and the 1%. I may be paranoid. It doesn't mean they aren't out to own 330 million economic slaves.
Popular vote is the same as mob rule. That’s why federal elections use electoral collage. You are correct to say that many people are not smart enough to understand what they are voting for but the system doesn’t care. Could you picture a system where you had to take a civics, history and geography test to be able to vote? No matter how you set up the test questions it would be unfair to one group or the other. Since we can’t discriminate between the smart and the lesser then smart people what we really need to do is educate those who need it.
The alternative is just worse. It's like jury duty where 12 peers are needed to convict a fellow neighbor. It's not perfect but it's better then the elite college frat who have a history of putting their penis in a dead pig like a prime minister accross the pond.
Realistically the best thing we can do is get rid of the electoral college system. Don did win the popular vote so its fair enough vs sleepy Joe 2.0 as kamala harris.
There is the new york mayor election this year thats honestly going to be a benchmark moment how the democratic party. Like having passion for being a civil servant vs the most milk toast centrist pocket as much money as you can politician.
Until we get money out of politics, voting has no effect. Our candidates are chosen for us by two political parties that control who gets in. The democrats are so inept that at least intelligent and well-meaning people like bernie, aoc, porter (railroaded by her own party), etc.. get in, but as you can see they all have targets on them from both sides and are completely hamstrung politically.
The republicans used to be about the same but some conman took it over and now they eject anyone not towing the party line and kissing the ring.
The fact is that both sides rely on the money party. But also at this point, the money directly controls all branches of government, so there's no getting rid of it except by massive collapse and revolution. It's game over already, the pot is starting to boil and still most people are pretending not to notice. Especially the media (hint - owned by the money party).
Not at all.. I'm in the same boat as you in regards to voting.. I don't think democracy is necessarily a great idea.. I think it should be relegated to people with knowledge of policies and stance on issues.. America's model is good being a Federal Republic, or having the ultimate vote be to people who know about this stuff while still giving the masses some sort of "power" over who's in office... I also think democracy works in smaller enclaves, and more local government settings, rather than Federal..
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Read about the History of the Electoral College. It was created so that popular vote, often led by mob rule, could be countered if it appeared that the election result would bring the country to ruin. Why do you think our current POTUS wanted it ceased. There are some good reads on the subject. Our elections invite us to choose sides and pick up rocks. Not the actions of an intelligent society.
See variuos videos of people being asked questions in the USA. most are poorly educated. I see even with my kids. They learn things in school... but know nothing. The learning comes from home and videos and games.
So the answer is... educate people through games, AI, videos.
Were all screwed, you know that. Find Jesus because this mess ain't gonna be fixed... will get worse.
'Democracy basically means of the people, for the people, by the people. But the people are Retarded.' The funniest thing about this statement is it applies to the elites too. I mean look how many bad choices are made by what are considered to be calculated leaders. Hey I know let's go invade Russia... bad idea.
I'm not even sure what "politically elitist" means. I can say that a democratic republic, where the people elect others who get together and make and enforce laws, that's the best form of government we humans have come up with. If there's something better, we haven't found it yet.
Most people are illiterate when it comes to politics which is why they have spent billions on building political brands here in the US via platforms. Now with Identity Politics all you have to do is look at you genitals and notice which they are and what color they are and that can be used to decode who you should vote for in the election. The good news is most of these idiots only have to look once and it is good for a lifetime.
You are not alone I feel the same way as you I learned that you just have to accept the choice we the people make as our given Rights as an American citizen... Nobody is going to look out for the little guy in the end it's capitalism and we chose it as a country
Don’t be embarrassed for being smart. I look at the Founders as being very smart because out system for the most part works. If we try to tweak the constitution, it will be diminished. My issue is with what I call the Professional Political Overseer Class. They have one job, to get reelected.
You should think intelligent folk should outnumber the other kind at the pools. However, unless you want to return to the poll tax days and other ingenious ways of keeping especially us blacks from voting (I'm 72 and well remember the voting and civil rights battles), there's no democratic way of ensuring this. We have to hope the informed voters outnumber the low-information types at the ballot box.
Democracy is a terrible way to run a country, as we are seeing now in the United States, but all others are even worse. I think that perhaps a parliamentary multi-party system is better as the prime minister can be turned out at any time.
Not an incredibly weak admin who does nothing. Not a vile dictatorship. Someone strong and thorough and legal. Those people tend to get overlooked. Its always been dems or republicans. Screw both I say.
You should have to answer a questionire about the different candidates and there like 20 questions available for each one and if you can answer 3, it's a pass.
Perhaps yes. Representative government is for the good of all of the people. Even the Unwashed Masses in The Bronx or Rednecks in Flippen, Georgia have needs and wisdom we can only guess at. A good question indeed.
If you think most people are stupid then you are an intellectual elitist, but they are. Most politicians are in it for the money or the power, and the power gets them more money🤑
Most people don't vote with logic, they vote with emotions. Everybody feels different, so expecting people to think like you may be expecting too much. You're not stupid or ignorant, you're one of few people here that make me attempt to use what little brain cells I have left♥️
I dislike the electoral college. It should be a popular vote. Right now I feel like we are in a totalitarian government the way the president and congress is acting.
I'm more critical of tje way our electoral college is currently structured. I don't believe having 51% of the vote of a state should give you all their electoral votes
Then attack party politics. If there aren't parties to turn the vote into a team sport the only voters would be the people smart enough and concerned enough to research the candidates.
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