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Is democracy dying?

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Re: Is democracy dying?

#2
I think that yes, democracy is dying, and popular 'for all' democracy with universal suffrage has been a bad idea from the very beginning. People who don't own significant amount of property (say, sufficient to provide rent above poverty threshold), shouldn't vote, because their votes are irresponsible by definition, and they are too easy to manipulate. Worst case it leads to 'bread and circuses' mode of societal collapse.

Re: Is democracy dying?

#3
post #2

I think that yes, democracy is dying, and popular 'for all' democracy with universal suffrage has been a bad idea from the very beginning. People who don't own significant amount of property (say, sufficient to provide rent above poverty threshold), shouldn't vote, because their votes are irresponsible by definition, and they are too easy to manipulate. Worst case it leads to 'bread and circuses' mode of societal col…

People who don't own significant amount of property (say, sufficient to provide rent above poverty threshold), shouldn't vote, because their votes are irresponsible by definition, and they are too easy to manipulate

Can you back that statement up with data?

Re: Is democracy dying?

#4
post #3
post #2

I think that yes, democracy is dying, and popular 'for all' democracy with universal suffrage has been a bad idea from the very beginning. People who don't own significant amount of property (say, sufficient to provide rent above poverty threshold), shouldn't vote, because their votes are irresponsible by definition, and they are too easy to manipulate. Worst case it leads to 'bread and circuses' mode of societal col…

People who don't own significant amount of property (say, sufficient to provide rent above poverty threshold), shouldn't vote, because their votes are irresponsible by definition, and they are too easy to manipulate Can you back that statement up with data?

I’m hoping I read that wrong because it sure sounds tyrannical.

Re: Is democracy dying?

#5
post #4
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who don't own significant amount of property (say, sufficient to provide rent above poverty threshold), shouldn't vote, because their votes are irresponsible by definition, and they are too easy to manipulate Can you back that statement up with data?

I’m hoping I read that wrong because it sure sounds tyrannical.

Sure sounds like late 18th century America to me. https://a.s.kqed.net/pdf/education/digitalmedia/us-voting-ri...

(Which is terrible, to be clear. I support making Election Day a national holiday and probably enfranchising 16 year olds.)

Edit: anovikov, you keep getting flagged and I have a question for you: I am genuinely curious as to whether you actually believe this, or if you’re trying to make a Swiftian ‘eat the poor’ commentary. I cannot tell and would love to know.

Re: Is democracy dying?

#6
post #3
post #2

I think that yes, democracy is dying, and popular 'for all' democracy with universal suffrage has been a bad idea from the very beginning. People who don't own significant amount of property (say, sufficient to provide rent above poverty threshold), shouldn't vote, because their votes are irresponsible by definition, and they are too easy to manipulate. Worst case it leads to 'bread and circuses' mode of societal col…

People who don't own significant amount of property (say, sufficient to provide rent above poverty threshold), shouldn't vote, because their votes are irresponsible by definition, and they are too easy to manipulate Can you back that statement up with data?

It is so hard to see that people who are dependent on social assistance will vote for nothing but more social assistance, dragging whole society into the hole?

To me, Chinese model sounds optimal: make strict, public, rarely changing rules of who can get suffrage, which may be a combination of education, income, wealth, and some other (say criminal record) requirements, in part replaceable by one another. 6% of adult population being voters, like in China, is quite enough. People who are funding the government (bulk of taxes are paid by a few percent of people), people who are moving the society forward, should vote - average people who don't have either capacity, or need to see the big picture and who are totally dependent on institutions they don't even understand, on their well-being, are at best a clutter, at worst a tool in the hands of enemies.

Re: Is democracy dying?

#7
post #2

I think that yes, democracy is dying, and popular 'for all' democracy with universal suffrage has been a bad idea from the very beginning. People who don't own significant amount of property (say, sufficient to provide rent above poverty threshold), shouldn't vote, because their votes are irresponsible by definition, and they are too easy to manipulate. Worst case it leads to 'bread and circuses' mode of societal col…

As a counter to your federalism revivalism, taxing land heavily would be the very beneficial to citizens and cities as you would incentivize the most valuable use of land in addition to providing a straight forward source of rent from the earth itself to "we the people".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax

Re: Is democracy dying?

#8
post #2

I think that yes, democracy is dying, and popular 'for all' democracy with universal suffrage has been a bad idea from the very beginning. People who don't own significant amount of property (say, sufficient to provide rent above poverty threshold), shouldn't vote, because their votes are irresponsible by definition, and they are too easy to manipulate. Worst case it leads to 'bread and circuses' mode of societal col…

Democracy isn't necessarily about voting responsibly. It's about giving people power over their government. When the government isn't serving the people, it needs to face some sort of consequence.

If democracy is failing, it's because this feedback loop is broken: people don't understand how their government works, or they don't feel able to make any meaningful change. It's not the people in poverty you should be blaming. In the last presidential election, for example, people at the lowest income level swung more toward Clinton than the average voter (https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/polls/us-elections/how-group...)

Re: Is democracy dying?

#9
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m hoping I read that wrong because it sure sounds tyrannical.

Sure sounds like late 18th century America to me. https://a.s.kqed.net/pdf/education/digitalmedia/us-voting-ri... (Which is terrible, to be clear. I support making Election Day a national holiday and probably enfranchising 16 year olds.) Edit: anovikov, you keep getting flagged and I have a question for you: I am genuinely curious as to whether you actually believe this, or if you’re trying to make a Swiftian ‘eat th…

Election day on a Tuesday is INSANE.

It almost seems like that is designed to prevent the working class from voting.

Re: Is democracy dying?

#10
post #2

I think that yes, democracy is dying, and popular 'for all' democracy with universal suffrage has been a bad idea from the very beginning. People who don't own significant amount of property (say, sufficient to provide rent above poverty threshold), shouldn't vote, because their votes are irresponsible by definition, and they are too easy to manipulate. Worst case it leads to 'bread and circuses' mode of societal col…

Socrates would be happy.
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