On Democracy

Democracy, it has been said, is the worst form of government except for all the others.

I don't know about the others, but let me tell you. Democracy is really really stupid.

It's a great idea in theory, but so were Socialism, Star Wars (the Strategic Defense Initiative, not the movies, although Episodes 1-3 certainly qualify for this list), and Betamax. Democracy is a great idea in which men and women choose their own destinies, where the laws that affect the populace are chosen by the populace.

The people who decided Democracy was awesome failed to remember that the populace is, by and large, pretty stupid. In Athens, hailed as the first Democracy, only the rich landed men over forty were allowed to vote, experienced politicians and philosophers all. In the United States, a country that prides itself on its democratic fervor, the founding fathers wanted only landed white males to vote. Men they felt were educated, intelligent and more likely to make choices beneficial for all. In fact, soon after the formation of our fair country, several of the founding fathers thought they had been too inclusive with voting rights, that the country would be overwhelmed by the rule of the uneducated masses, that the masses would vote selfishly only for what was best for them and not what was best for all.

And the founding fathers, of course, were unselfish and noble men who never gave a thought to their own personal finances when rebelling against taxes. Who, of course, did not keep their own fortunes in mind when they crafted the country themselves.

Some might say here that the expansion of voting rights nullifies selfishness. When everyone votes, if everyone votes for what is best for them, the will of the majority will be fulfilled.

I'm going to give you a small example here. Not long ago, there was a very controversial ruling in California. Proposition 8.

Before I talk about my example, I should explain a bit about the referendum system in California for those of you who aren't from the US or just can't find yourselves to care about the legal system of our fair state. Most states have their laws made by legislators who are voted into office by the people. In California, a lot of our laws work on the referendum system, where laws are put directly before the people and the people choose what is best for them.

Yeah, it's stupid. You'll see why in a second. Proposition 8 was a hugely controversial topic that was watched from all over the country. Prop 8 was about the outlawing of same-sex marriage in the state and it passed, meaning that gay marriage is outlawed in a state that contains San Francisco (I know, ridiculous right?)

But that's not what I want to talk about today. What I want to talk about today is Prop 2. Prop 2 was on the same ballot, and it was about a matter slightly less dear to our hearts. It was about the legal size of chicken cages.

Here you have everyone in the state voting for the size of chicken cages, in a state with some of the most populated urban areas of the country. What does your average wannabe Hollywood actress know about the size of chicken cages? Your average cubicle worker? Yet you have these people voting on new laws based only on the information they have from commercials for and against Prop 2. How many people can make an informed decision about chicken cages based on biased media? How many people would actually care enough to research about the proper size of chicken cages by themselves?

Rule by the mob is too easily influenced by fear, by propaganda. Democracy simply puts the people with the best advertisements in control. There is too little logic and too much emotion in the masses, too few people who actually make decisions that aren't influenced by personal position or emotional commercials.

Maybe I'm being too harsh on Democracy. I'd like to think so. Especially in America (and I'm not proud of this) voters aren't educated enough about the issues they vote on. We're simply too absorbed with our everyday lives to seriously look at all the issues we vote on. So thus the fault lies with America and not the system.

In America, we are all Kings and Queens. We are all Presidents, all signers of bills and approvers of legislature. Should we be figureheads, mere signers of the pieces of paper politicians put in front of us?

In a Democracy, it is the responsibility of every voter to educate themselves, to know the real impacts of what we vote on, not the slanted views of commercials.

That's why Democracy is such a stupid system. It depends on the minds of every voter to be logical, to be unswayed by selfishness and emotional pleas, or at least the minds of the majority of voters.

And that's just not the way things work. Democracy, like Socialism, is a system based on how the world should be. It just doesn't work.

It's a beautiful idea in theory though.