Is Democracy Sustainable in the Face of Human Nature?

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Thread starter drankin
Start date May 26, 2011

This leads to the degradation of overall liberties as we create ways to take more from one group to accommodate another. Shifting costs to those who do not participate in the process can also create conflict. One proposed solution is to only allow tax-paying individuals to vote and possibly weight votes based on the amount of taxes paid. However, there is a more fundamental problem with democratic government in that those in charge are not subject-matter experts and the system can lead to inefficiency and a stifling of innovation.

Jun 8, 2011

Al68

zooxanthellae said:

I'm reminded of something that a frustrated John von Neumann said at some point about the state of pure math...

Reminds me of a Beavis and Butthead quote: "I hate numbers. There's..like..too many of them and stuff."

This is why I think Ivan's strategy is a pretty decent one. Our best bet in this system is to elect people who seem sane and hard-working.

As was pointed out earlier, the problem with that is that a politician being sane and hard working is a disadvantage if the politician is working against, instead of for, your interests. From my libertarian point of view, I only wish those politicians who have advocated authoritarian laws were less sane and hardworking, so they wouldn't have accomplished so much of their agenda.

The last politician I would ever want to vote for is a competent hardworking politician with an agenda I oppose.