[Debate]#Main: The Debate thread

[STM1993]

Here is an interesting view from Aristotle:


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So, is there a perfect form of government at all?

Probably not in practice. How do you rise in power? By being related with those who have the means to put you in power, but in return, you generally become obligated to help out those same people else they could also put you out of power - the same way you tend to want to help your friends. No one would give you power if they don't know who you are, and you'd call someone a snitch if he told on you and never trust him again(hence, bad idea to be a whistleblower). In other words, corruption is inherent, primarily because an imperfect knowledge of candidates exists, resulting in a need to build relationships with those with power to put you in the spotlight, and in turn strings get attached. For this reason, I believe that there is ultimately no real difference what government system is being used - everything is a form of oligarchy, possibly even a plutocracy given how important money is.

That said, I think a democracy(at least outwardly, the real answer is always somewhere in-between) is the least of the evils in the age of the internet, if only because it most easily pacifies the masses from revolting etc. When a leader is elected, the masses can't exactly complain because that's what everyone else voted and it happens a predictable every X years. In other systems, they could easily say that they had no control over who they wanted to lead them, especially if there were changes to the system used to select leaders. It doesn't take a genius to realize that the masses can be easily manipulated by media and that the people who picked the candidates to choose from have the real power, but this is a very powerful illusion nevertheless.