Sunday, February 27, 2011

The Flaw of Democracy

The fundamental philosophy of democracy insists that people have the right and the capacity to exercise either directly or through representatives’ equal control over the matters which affect their interests.

2000 years ago, democracy governed a society that was isolated, independent and simple, especially economically. Today, democracy governs a complex society that has many social and economic associations with other societies that compete with them in a global community.

Most voters of a democracy don’t understand economies of scale, the fractional reserve system, the difference between deficit and debt and so on. Yet, the only criterion required to vote is minimum age. Therein lays the problem.

The flaw of democracy is that everyone of age can vote

Voters tend to vote for the political representatives whose policies and proposals will monetarily enrich them the most. Greed is a common human trait, especially in a capitalist society. Because of this, prosperous capitalist democracies overtime evolve into indebted socialist democracies.

What to do?

Long term sustainable prosperous democracies could possibly exist if voters were tested to verify they were relevantly knowledgeable enough to vote and governments practiced Pay As You Go Governance by limiting their yearly spending to yearly tax revenues.

How?

Technology – An electronic voting system could prompt voters to answer 5 or more multiple choice questions presented to them. If they correctly answer all the questions, they get to vote. If they don’t correctly answer all questions, they don’t get to vote. The questions would be randomly selected in any order from a database of 50 or more questions.

Balanced Budget Amendments – At all levels of government, would force fiscal discipline and reduce discretionary and wasteful spending.

Is it fair?

The right to vote is considered a fundamental human right. Unfortunately, this right is exploited by political parties, pundits, special interest groups, unions and other collusive organizations and entities.

Article 29, section 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

By law, a human right can be subjected to a minimum age criterion and other qualifiers. Eliminating votes by people who are not relevantly knowledgeable enough to vote would greatly reduce the exploitation of voters’ rights and provide the people fair and just representation.

Society is better served when knowledgeable people make informed decisions.

Peter Tsirlis

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