Democracy is a sham isn't it?

Question

Didn't the Greeks warn us thoroughly of the dangerous of democracy and yet no one seems to have listened.

Good decisions require lots of information and experience, but most American are highly illiterate and have had no experiences beyond their private mundane, barely subsisting lives. Historians debate for centuries the causes and issues surrounding most of the major events of history, so how can a bunch of illiterates who love reality TV, make informed understanding decisions about events occuring in the present.

An older woman I work with, was recently explaining to me that the government needs to start enforcing birth control measures against people who shop in Walmart.

Why??? She hates Walmart and then also, all of the people in there are fat and ugly.

I am not joking. I wanted to slap her head into China, so she could see tyranny first hand.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!!!!!!

William P. This was a republic, and while the form of the Republic is still there, the Spirit of Democracy is in full force.

Obviously none of you are very familiar historical political thought. The point is this. There is no one good form of government. A government is only as good as the people in force. In a democracy the end result is generally a kind of undisciplined rabble that vote for anything that makes them feel good.

David C. You are a f*cking retard.

The first rule of government is equality before the law.

That is, because the people in Walmart are human beings, they are my equals, and therefore have as much right to mind their own business and live their own lives as I do.

Just because I don't like them, doesn't mean anything.

You and this lady are proof positive of the type of ignorance I am speaking of.

Once you get some petty little sh*t figuring out how to remake the world into his or her image, then you begin to get the finer manifestations of democracy.

Answer 1

Here's your best answer. People cannot make informed decisions when they only have some parts of any issue upon which to base a decision. The news reported through the media, particularly those issues of importance and what they call the 'hot-button' issues, is slanted one way or the other, and both sides of the political spectrum only report the part of the facts that they want you to base your decision upon. Never all of the facts. So in any given instance, on any particular subject, we are only allowed to know what the government or media want us to know, and expect us to base decisions on partial information. This primarily amounts to a form of brainwashing.

The Greeks didn't necessarily warn us against Democracy, but their society embracing Democracy and the resultant eroding away of Greek society stands as an example of the folly of pure Democracy. This is why the Framers of the Constitution tried to create a Republican form of government where each branch was supposed to watch over the other branches to try and insure that tyranny was not the result of their invention. This is mostly true, except for the Supreme Court, the branch of government over which there is no equivalent check, as there is with the legislative and the executive branches.

Many of those who opposed the Constitution, known as the Anti-Federalists, were very in favor of creating a simple democracy, despite the failure of the Greeks. But not all of the Anti-Federalists were necessarily staunch supporters of simple Democracy. Some saw the shortcomings of the Constitution (the one just illustrated about the Supreme Court being one of the most important observations), and wrote against them.

For more information on the potential weaknesses of the Constitution I suggest reading the Anti-Federalist papers. These are the equivalent of the Federalist Papers, only they were written in opposition to the Constitution before it was ratified. We can all thank the Anti-Federalists for the Bill of Rights. It was at their insistence that it be included or else the Constitution would not have been ratified. It is the Bill of Rights which has mostly retained what few freedoms we have left, and organizations like the ACLU refuse the acknowledge the 2nd Amendment, even though it is part of the Bill of Rights.

Democracy is best exemplified by two wolves and a sheep voting over what to have for supper. You can see the democratic result of that scenario. Nuff said?

Answer 2

It amazes me, reading the history of the U.S.A., that this argument has been brought up in nearly every year following an election. The people who lose, either side, throw a fit, claim fraud about things they DIDN'T have a problem with going into the election until they lost, and try to undermine the elected officials they didn't vote for.

It may be free speech. It's also sedition.

Our system works, always has. Don't worry about these folks who claim that "Democracy doesn't work", or "Our government is a dictatorship!" or any of the other nonsense you hear.

Go vote. Help elect someone. Run for office (a minor one at first and work your way up). Write letters. As someone who has family in government, they are always amazed that people can believe this junk about conspiracy without proof and treat our elected officials as "guilty until proven innocent".

And every time, the socialists and anarchists egg them on, trying to encourage the overthrow of the government, more socialist agenda, etc.

It doesn't work, never has. Our Republic just keeps getting stronger, we're now the strongest country in the world and getting stronger in so many ways. We imitate the best we see in other countries, and other countries seem to just hold on to their old ways (some of which are darn good, which is why we adopt those, too!)

Answer 3

No, Democracy is not the sham. The idea of a truly democratic society is the best form of government man has ever been able to come up with. The sham is in the way democracy is handled in the U.S.A., the "cradle of democracy".

Ok, first off, the notion that anyone 18 years of age or older, as long as they have a pulse, is able to vote for their own leaders, is laughable. There have actually been state legislatures which couldn't understand how the value of Pi could be 3.1417 etc, so they voted to make it come out to 3.14, period. Morons with the right to vote are not responsible voters. People will vote for their own selfish little agendas and too bad if it ultimately hurts the country. It's called the "Bread and Circuses" syndrome, I think.
My solution to this first issue is : Anyone who can correctly answer some simple grammar or math problem is allowed to vote. You miss the question, you go home. If voting is important to you, you will get knowledge for the next election. Or you're simply incapable of learning and we don't need people such as that voting, anyway. I don't care if a bright 6 year old answers thequestions correctly, if he or she does, he or she votes.

Second, anyone who tells you these computer voting machines are not capable of being sabotaged to one political party's advantage, is trying to sell you one. I also don't agree with State Committees, disenfranchising (look it up) a huge number of voters they deemed ineligible AFTER they were allowed to vote, 2 Presidential elections ago! That's so egregious (look that one up too) there should have been arrests made. It happened in both Ohio and Florida. It will happen in more states, because more states are using the electronic voting machines. I say, stick to paper, we never had all this "hanging chad" nonsense then. Then you dont have to worry about faulty memory cards, loss of recorded votes, etc.

Third: We need election campaign reform. Your $100 contribution to your political party can't possibly compete with the millions of dollars corporations can funnel to politicians through PACs and such. Close this avenue of support off, and those seeking election won't have to sell their souls to Big Oil to get elected.

Let's get these three things fixed, by that time I'll have come up with other things to whine about.

Democracy isn't perfect, but it's better than any other political system Mankind has ever tried.

Answer 4

Democracy does indeed require well informed people who are able to make good decisions.

And America is the country with the least involved citizens. We think politics are boring and would rather hear about Tom Cruise's new baby or Angelina Joles *** then anything about politics.

The good news is that with a democracy, people like your coworker should never be able to get enough support for their ignorant views to actually make it into law.

Democracy isn't a sham, but people do need to get involved and participate to make it work. Don't blame the system because people are just too lazy to take it seriously.

Answer 5

Funny, because you're saying that people need to be informed and educated in order to participate fully in a democracy, and then when someone tells you they want to enforce birth control measures against that part of the population that's mostly underinformed and undereducated, you want to slap her head.

;-)

But yeah, democracy requires an informed electorate. Who said that, Ben Franklin? I think he said everything else. But listen, you're talking about the U.S. There are other countries that have democratic governments ... do you think that democracy is a sham in those countries, too?

Answer 6

You're right, democracy is stupid. Unfortunately, it's probably the best system we have to work with at present. Can you think of a better arrangement? I think a benevolent (and well-informed) dictatorship/monarchy would be better, but I can't imagine how we could establish such a system and sustain it very long.

So yes, we have a system under which important decisions are made acording to the dictates of the ignorant masses. Reminds me of.... of... people who ask advice about serious, personal matters over Y! Answers!

Answer 7

DEMOCRACY is a type of government system that does not work. Even look at the USA, they are clearly a totalitarian state labelled under "democracy". Believe me, the western free world is the biggest threat to world stability at this rate.

Answer 8

ok not sure where you get your information that americans are highly illiterate when we have a higher number of LITERATE citizens than just about any other country, so that right there makes your whole statement nothing but an america bashing question, which you should remember yahoo is an american company..

Answer 9

There is no such thing as a pure Democracy....Just the same as there is no such thing as true Communism.

We are all being taken for a ride. Both are shams, worldwide.

Answer 10

dude - you are so right. America has some literate people, but most of them don't become politicians able to make a difference.