Thread: Democracy is always right?

Do you believe democracy is always right?

Hypothetically speaking, let's say you ran an election and you were the only one counting the ballets... and the difference between the ballets were extremellllllly small (single digits). And let's say the guy you did NOT like [in fact, you strongly hate this person] ended up winning the election by a small marginal vote.

Would you have let that guy win or would you announce the victor as the other candidate which you liked more because you knew the other candidate had EXTREMELY better credentials and knowledge and lost merely cause it was a popularity contest? Would you destroy morals and announce what you felt was better for society?

Would you have trusted democracy?

Democracy is based on what's popular opinion being always right, which is not always the case. I urge you to look at some genres of music that are popular but require no talent, energy, time......basically effort.

I'd announce my guy if we're talking decimal points, otherwise no, I'd go with the masses and not have all the blame in my hands should my guy turn out to be a dick.

Regardless on who was the better candidate, if you did what you said in the presented scenario, it goes against the idea of democracy. Then again, that's what happened in the 2000 elections with Bush and Gore, more or less.

Representative Democracy ftw

By the way, I just wanted to mention...

that in this hypothetical situation, if you DID decided to "Screw the rules" and announce your favorite as the winner that there was no possible way for anyone else to find out you cheated. There's no such thing as "recount" in this hypothetical situation so ultimately you could act as a tyrant and get away with it...

^ Wouldn't do that, couldn't live with the guilt.

I think a better question would be: what's a better alternative to democracy? Of course democracy isn't always right; no form of government is perfect. However, it's the system that offers the most freedom to the people in various ways, and it does represent the views of the majority (if not everyone) that can't really be done under any other system. It may have flaws or loopholes, but democracy is the best type of government possible to us.

...Actually, I just had an exam on this yesterday. XD I could go into even more detail with the texts to cite...

At the moment, I'm doubting democracy...

and have to suffer the consequences of "the People's" choice even though I really do believe the People were really stupid..

How does a person who was a VP... who NEARLY QUIT the board around January, whose speech was practically "I'm sorry I fucked up this year, but please vote for me anyway," win the position of President? I don't get it. >_<;;

Tyranny all the way!!!

As long as people are different (i.e. different way of thinking, different needs, different goals, different desires, etc), there cannot be a perfect system. The thing with democracy is that it is based in the tyranny of the many, than the tyranny of a few.

Whether democracy is better than other systems is debatable. Personally, I like to be able to choose who will lead and represent this country; I also like to be able to choose whether some laws can be passed, or not. Although, I do think people should meet some requirements before being able to exercise this power.

Originally Posted by coolpuprocks

Tyranny all the way!!!

It'd be very difficult to find a good dictator who would remain uncorrupted by power over his/her reign, and that would still require basic freedoms to be sacrificed. It's doubtful that even under a good dictator one would have freedom of speech, for instance, particularly if other nations are democratic - people will always be speaking up against the dictator. If they're strong, they suppress. If they're weak, people still control them and therefore the country, only that would be a small minority rather than the majority. (Unless the dictator listens to the people under the threat of being pulled down, but that's practically a democracy anyway.)

Personally, I like Democratic Republics. The majority speaks, the majority gets it's way...until the small group that governs them is coerced into obeying growing minorities. True democracy is hell.

I know it's not being discussed right now, but I gotta say the most blasphemous thing ever spoken:

Communism, and especially Socialism, can also be democracies in the same exact voting/leader sense as democracy.

Capitalistic Democracy, Communistic Totalitarianism, Capitalistic Totalitarianism, Communistic Democracy. All four are individually as valid as the others.