Has anyone else spotted the fatal flaw of democracy?

Question

Basically, that in order for everyone to be allowed equal chance to vote, the opinions of absolutely ANYONE must be given equal weighting, no matter how bigoted or deranged. No matter what type of loony-bin fodder you are, you have just as much say in the running of the country as normal sensible people.

Further to the above, can anyone think of a way to remove politicians from the democratic process?

Answer 1

And your point is?

Look at it this way, you are better than them so they should not have the vote.
I am better than you so you should not have the vote.
And so on until we have just one person superior to the rest of us ruling us as a dictator.
How would that suit you?

Answer 2

In your ignorance you claim this to be a flaw of democracy when in fact it is the very profound basis of democracy.

Democracy is all about the rule of the majority and this in turn is based upon the concept that if a majority has decided on something/anything ,no matter what the consequences ,THE MAJORITY IS RESPONSIBLE/ACCOUNTABLE for their own choice and can blame no others .

In order that the "Rule of the majority" does not become the "Tyranny of the majority" ,all democracies have Constitutions/Bills of Rights (in some form or other) that ensure this does not happen.

Some will argue that the US democracy's inability to stop the atrocity in Iraq is a flaw in democracy but of course it is not for Congress can end this war today merely by stopping all funding (That is why the Founding Fathers gave Congress this power to off-set the President's power ) but for whatever reason,they continue to nrefuse to excercize Congresses authority .

Further , Congress has the power of Impeachment which if accelerated would certainly see Bush ousted but Congress again is failing .

Last but as always not least ,the BEAUTY of a democracy that I love is that voters GET EXACTLY WHAT THEY VOTED FOR as AMERICANS DID WITH THEIR RE-ELECTION OF BUSH IN 2006 but like spoilt irresponsible little 2 year old brats ,these exact same voters are WHINING about THEIR choices and blaming Congress and NOT THEMSELVES for what has come to pass.

GROW UP and take responsibilty !!!

Answer 3

That isnt a flaw in democracy, you could always vote for who every you anted to, If you have ever voted before you will see on the ballot that you can vote for the communist or socialist party also. Thats what makes democracy good. what your talking about is america's idea of democracy. an example is when there was a free election in the middle east and the people voted in hazbola (dont know how its spelt) to lead the country, America did reconize that a legitamate form of govenment b/c hazbola is list as a terrorist organization. The real question is as any one spotted a flaw in american politics. American politics is so full of currupition its not even funny, its rather sad when your countries political system is joke to the rest of the world.

Answer 4

This isn't a flaw of democracy. It's a positive creation of democracy. Think of the alternative - where some people count more than others. Who gets to choose who those people are? What happens if they have an extremist idealogy?

When you mass the votes of 100 million people together, the extremists gets squished out of the way by the moderate majority.

It's also why the electoral college is a brilliant system. It forces both the Democratic and Republican candidates to moderate their message to appeal to states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.

Answer 5

OK, well, while we call ourselves a democracy, we really aren't. We are a Republic. A true democracy would have every citizen voting for everything and equal power for all citizens to make laws. The flaw with a system like that is the process would be so noisy that nothing would ever get done.

Answer 6

Yeah. The countries voice is not made up of the peoples voice. Its is made up by the "minority" of the richest and most powerful men in the country. Democracy is a lie. The "powers that be " use this magic word to shut us up so they can deal with the business of controlling "our" country. There is only one remedy for the plague of Capitalism and that is a mass uprising. But people are too busy buying the latest ipod and slagging off refugees.

Answer 7

This is the essence of democracy - and demos is Greek for mob or crowd.

The other essential is that the mob elect representatives or delegates (there is a major difference) to rule in their name so, no, you can't not have them in a democracy.

Winston Churchill had a good quote:
"Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."

Answer 8

Actually...that is not true. It is what politicians tell you...but like so many of the things politicians tell you...it's not true.

In some cases law forbids expressions of certain points of view. It is why the BNP have to limit what they say in relation to what the law will allow. For example, it is illegal in the UK to say anything that could be seen to incite racial hatred.

There are also the social pressures that are brought to bare.
As I said in another answer, American students I met in Illinois told me that they we dissuaded from starting a Christian/Muslim friendship group by the CIA visiting some of their parents!

The fact is, democracy always has been flawed. Politicians are it's natural enemy.

Answer 9

"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."

If you think you can do better than those in power, you should run for office. That is the beauty of democracy; everyone can be a politician

Answer 10

The fatal flaw was recognized by the founding fathers, in that they foresaw that when the people realize they control the pursestrings to the treasury, they will vote for whomever provides them the most subsidies in exchange for their personal freedoms.

Democracies are thought to be short-lived, historically. I think only the lure of capitalism is keeping this one going.

Answer 11

Everyone has an opinion as to what is "Normal".That is Democracy.All are equal and have a vote. It does not matter what you IQ is. if it was bassed on being smarter in order to vote,Most of us would be at hope with no rights.