Speak your mind freely Workin! I would never censor an alternative view - decentralisation is an important part of building strength and trust!
I don't want to fall into the trap of getting lost in semantics, but I have always defined a representative democracy as one where politicians represent the people at government level. To the best of my knowledge - this is the system that brought Hitler and his Nazi party into power, so yes, I view that case as a representative democracy.
As you said
The majority of Germans voted Hitler into office, but were opposed to what Hitler did with that power.
which is no doubt true, and I think the case in most representative democracies today.
As far as I know we have NEVER had a state run as a direct democracy, and I would argue that before now we have lacked the technology to do so in a transparent fashion (which is a necessity).
I did indeed say that those with higher IQ’s should be given more voting power and I still stand by that. Like a Direct Democracy, the idea of having the voting weighted in favour of the intelligent has also never been tried. I believe it will work.
I absolutely agree that power corrupts, but I also agree with my statement that those with the brains to see the outcomes of their decisions will realise that it is in their own best interests to look after everybody - not just themselves. Casual observation and interaction with the ultra-intelligent has led me to believe that this is a correct assumption to make.
In a worst case scenario (if I am wrong), then we end up back where we are now, but at least our rulers will be clever (not like now). One revolution later and we can begin again.
I believe that the inevitable long-term outcome of any system of governance is either:
- That it works for the majority
- A revolution
The only way I can see of avoiding "2" is to give everybody a real and direct say in things. I think that representative democracies have tried and failed. I realise that blockchains may help, but why have a middleman in the system? Work life has taught me that the middlemen are leeches: productivity and money siphoning parasites who add no value.
Look, I'm not totally against some sort of "man in charge", and I support the noble vision of America's founding fathers. I just think that the modern world is too different and too greedy for that to remain a sustainable system.
I don't expect this all to change within my lifetime, and I doubt I'll ever live to see my dream come to fruition - but right now I'd take even 10% of that dream as a major win.
Thanks a lot for making the effort and taking the time to discuss these ever-so-important topics. I don't care that we may not see eye to eye, I care that we both want what is best for the future. We have time, I'm sure we can work out the details later :)
RE: Give me Liberty, or give me Death! – Part 2