Politics
Out of context: Reply #19166
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“Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man?”
- Henry David Throreau, 1849
The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections. To break off that point is to avert the danger. The common system of representation perpetuates the danger. Unequal electorates afford no security to majorities. Equal electorates give none to minorities. Thirty-five years ago it was pointed out that the remedy is proportional representation. It is profoundly democratic, for it increases the influence of thousands who would otherwise have no voice in the government; and it brings men more near an equality by so contriving that no vote shall be wasted, and that every voter shall contribute to bring into Parliament a member of his own opinions.
- Lord Acton, in his review of "Sir Erskine May's Democracy in Europe" in The Quarterly Review, 1878.
- These are not new ideas. To think that there is a better system than democracy just beyond our horizon is to belittle the magnificence of the idea itself.********
- As HDT points out, most assume democracy is the last improvement. Maybe it isn't. But, it's no easy to task to replace it, despite the efforts of many.********
- It weird seeing you quote HDT. Im guessing the context of the quote was against democratic approval of slavery... im confused what you are suggesting tho********
- are you suggesting a more lib system of upholding ind rights, as HDT suggests, or more of something like bernie sanders********
- The passages quoted are the views of the original authors only and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of "nb", nor his subsidiaries.********
- Seriously, I was just posting these to as a response to bliznutty. My point is that people HAVE been thinking about these things. That's all.********
- so u google open thought to un democratic ideas to post something in response? I dont think youre being as honest as you can be********
- Not that it matters, but I didn't go googling to find these just to make a point. They are both well-known passages. Again, I'm not an advocate of these ideas.********
- I merely wanted to point out that people have thought "is there something better than democracy?" for a long time, that there is some writing on the matter.********
- so u don't support them. and just want to highlight other people have had different ideas... did u know water is wet? sorry just seems weird to me.********
- I took bliznutty's posts as a criticism of democracy. I wanted to point out that others had criticized it too, and that we haven't thought up anything better.********
- By the way, neither of the passages I posted describe a replacement for democracy. They only question it.********
- Oh alright. Do you have any personal thoughts on the subject? Think thats what confused me.********
- In short, democracy is one of the great accomplishments of man. It's not perfect, but it's the best we've got, for now.********
- It's possible that humans will come up with a more fair or "better" system. But I'm not smart enough to contribute on what that might be. In the meantime,********
- the best thing we can do is try to weed out the flaws in our system and finesse our democracies to work in the best way for the most people.********
- These are not new ideas. To think that there is a better system than democracy just beyond our horizon is to belittle the magnificence of the idea itself.