Which form of government is better?

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I think a combination is best, such as the elite making decisions mainly, but the populace having power of veto by polling vote.

Last edited by iamnotaparakeet on 01 Nov 2009, 9:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

Which form of government is better?


The ones in PPR are the best.

I suspect you mean "populace".

Yes, populace. Again you've corrected my word choice. Congrats.

While you're at it though, to more correctly describe this oligarchy, the few should not be considered "elite" but rather the "31337"...

Primarily an Anarchy until a random moderator shows up [poor choice of word emended by lau] around?

None of the above. No forms of government are better. Some forms are less bad than others.

The fact that we need government at all shows a lack of self control.

ruveyn

I really wonder if democracy were real, what state the world would be in today?

None of the above.

The elites are too greedy and the populace is too stupid.

Some form of Anarcho-syndicalism would be ideal, but it is difficult to implement because you have to create a government powerfull enough to contain the ambitions of the elite, force education on the masses, and yet give both groops enough freedom to live to their full potential.

I'm strongly against giving everyone over 18 the vote. We should learn to listen to guys like Plato.

I assume you mean -The Republic- wherein Plato wrote the handbook for every miserable totalitarian dictatorship that ever exist.

ruveyn

I think republican/representative democracy is about as good as it gets. Might be wise though to make sure that the public took politics more seriously and made sure they were well educated on their decisions. I have to agree as well - 18 is too young, you might be a legal adult but you very rarely at that age know enough.

The fact that we send 18 year olds off to die in wars should grant them full rights, regardless if they know enough about politics to make an informed vote.

Best form of government?

A very small one.

Cut Plato a little slack.

In his time Aristocratic Oligarchs where the norm and they weren't that bad.
Plato liked them because he was an aristocrat and also because democracy
was going through a rough patch, to say the least, after the defeat of Athens.

Athenian democracy had built an empire that enslaved many Greek city-states,
forced taxes upon non-citizens and tribute from smaller states and been at war
with anyone who refused to join it's "Alliance". Any glory this empire had was lost
when it was utterly defeated by the Spartans.

Democracy was deeply unpopular in most of Greece and many levels of Athenian society.

Sure, the republic would likely lead to an oppressive dictatorship if it where attempted
today, but that's not because Plato's Republic is a Machiavellian guide for
potential dictators.

When Plato was alive it was believed that the idea size of a polis/state was
only 5000 male citizens; so that all could listen to one person speak.
Most Greek states where about that size, although Plato's Athens almost
reached six figures, before the great plague shortly after Plato's birth. That
comparatively large size made it too big to be a Polis in the eyes of Aristotle.

Plato had in mind states with populations smaller than most small towns today.
That was the world he lived in. It's hard to imagine how you could get 20th
century style dictatorships in such small states.

Plato didn't write the handbook for miserable totalitarian dictatorships, he wrote
the handbook for the benevolent rule of those best able to be benevolent rulers
in the tiny city states of 4th century BCE Greece.

If you try to apply a system designed for states no bigger than a few tens of
thousands to modern nations of tend or hundreds of millions, you should not be
surprised if you end up with a crappy system.

How about democracy in which only votes of 90% or more count? If there's no consensus, laws aren't passed. (Check out L. Neil Smith's "The Probability Broach" for a fictional example of such a society.)

Government is the one institution that we grant the right to use violence to accomplish its ends. We should tightly limit and control under what circumstances that power is exercised.

Which democracy?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_types_of_democracy