Political System - Dallas Cowboys Forum

Crown Royal · 07-19-2007

In the spirit of the spectrum question, thought I would present this one. I was having a conversation with a friend of mine the other day about politics in a broad sense, specifically, political systems such as democracy, socialism, communism, single-party-states, etc.

We began discussing our utopia, each assuming the other's would be, as we were raised to believe, that democracy was greatest. We were both shocked that we shared a distaste for democracy in it's essence, and while we agreed that it has provided some benefits in the last 200 years, we agreed that it is at it's core a very flawed system.

We then began talking about what would be our ideal government (note that we say ideal, meaning ideal situations, which never occur).

For both of us, it was dictatorship, though several of our peers had different answers.

I was curious to see what your answers would be. I will explain more about my own later on in the thread.

Danny White · 07-19-2007

Dictatorship... with me in charge!

It would kind of suck, though, because I'm sure I would be assassinated. And since I'm so pro-gun, there'd be lots of opportunities to "off" me.

Crown Royal · 07-19-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danny White

Dictatorship... with me in charge!

It would kind of suck, though, because I'm sure I would be assassinated. And since I'm so pro-gun, there'd be lots of opportunities to "off" me.

I should have qualified - I have no aspiration to ever involve myself into politics past voting and some additional compaigning on items that might be close to me. Included in that is that although dictatorship would be ideal to me, I wouldn't be a very good one.

joseephuss · 07-19-2007

All systems have the ability to be flawed. Some systems are easier to correct the flaws. In a democracy the people have the chance to elect new leaders if the current ones are flawed. What options do people in a dictatorship have to make changes? There are options, but it is just a lot hard and usually entails blood shed or some sort of force.

I don't see the U.S. democracy as basically flawed at its core. It may have become flawed over time. I think the leaders(both parties) tend to work for themselves instead of for the people.

The two party system is starting to spin its wheels in the mud. Two parties truly can't represent the populace. There are just too many variables. It doesn't need to go crazy and become 20 parties, but there is some under representation occurring right now.

I think communism works very well on a small scale. It isn't good for countries and vast populations. I am talking about villages, townships or just neighborhoods. On a small scale it isn't too dissimilar from a democracy. Now if you have to mix multiple communes together, it gets complicated. It is better to go back to a democratic type system to represent the different communes.

**BrAinPaiNt** · 07-19-2007

There is no "perfect" system for all issues.

If there we we would not have so many different ones.

However I think I would probably wind up with a dictatorship of sorts with a side of communism and even sprinkle in some other things. Why...because I can and you will like it. I will confuse and astound you.

In other words. I want to be a cult leader and have total control but make you think you have control.

Except in my cult we will not be vegetarians unless you want to be.

jterrell · 07-19-2007

I think the ideal system is much akin to what we have now.

A Republic. Our issue is the impact of money buying votes that are contrary to the desires of the constituents. If the Representatives truly represented us we'd have far fewer problems inho.

My utopian system would be a non-discriminatory meritocracy backed with individualism over corporatism.

For me individuals=good; companies=bad.

jterrell · 07-19-2007

The problem with a dictatorship is it can be the best or worst system.

And once in place can not be altered except by death.
Much like the various Egyptian rulers offing each other(mainly relatives) so long ago.

burmafrd · 07-19-2007

Democracy has a self correcting mechanism that dictatorships do not have.
That is critical.
The real problem with dictatorships is who you usually get as dictators.
The real big problem we have in the US now is how ill informed most people are about whats really happening (due to a messed up media) and also a lousy excuse for a education system as regards our own country and political system. And the fact that usually less then half the eligible voters VOTE. That means a lot of power DEFAULTS to the extremes who do most of the voting. And THAT is never good.

**BrAinPaiNt** · 07-19-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by burmafrd

Democracy has a self correcting mechanism that dictatorships do not have.
That is critical.
The real problem with dictatorships is who you usually get as dictators.
The real big problem we have in the US now is how ill informed most people are about whats really happening (due to a messed up media) and also a lousy excuse for a education system as regards our own country and political system. And the fact that usually less then half the eligible voters VOTE. That means a lot of power DEFAULTS to the extremes who do most of the voting. And THAT is never good.

The problem with voting is the two party system IMO.

Many people do not want to vote for whoever the right or left party puts up there.

They did not really choose those people.

Now they have a choice between two people they never wanted in the first place.

They can be idealist and vote for a candidate in a different party that has no chance at all winning but it still falls back to someone from the two main parties winning.

AtlCB · 07-19-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crown Royal

In the spirit of the spectrum question, thought I would present this one. I was having a conversation with a friend of mine the other day about politics in a broad sense, specifically, political systems such as democracy, socialism, communism, single-party-states, etc.

We began discussing our utopia, each assuming the other's would be, as we were raised to believe, that democracy was greatest. We were both shocked that we shared a distaste for democracy in it's essence, and while we agreed that it has provided some benefits in the last 200 years, we agreed that it is at it's core a very flawed system.

We then began talking about what would be our ideal government (note that we say ideal, meaning ideal situations, which never occur).

For both of us, it was dictatorship, though several of our peers had different answers.

I was curious to see what your answers would be. I will explain more about my own later on in the thread.

Dictatorship is one of the worst forms of government. Dictators often have to suppress free speach by using brutal tactics to remain in power. The other problem is that absolute power often corrupts a dictator. Many decisions are made for selfish reasons instead of for the good of the people. If your dictator is cruel or incompetent, your only recourse is revolution. In a republic, you can vote the politicial out or impeach him.

A government with checks and balances is always better than one without. I believe the problem is how to minimize corruption in a republic - a solution not available in a dictatorship. More restrictions need to be placed on where politicians and their families can receive money.

Crown Royal · 07-19-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by burmafrd

Democracy has a self correcting mechanism that dictatorships do not have.
That is critical.
The real problem with dictatorships is who you usually get as dictators.
The real big problem we have in the US now is how ill informed most people are about whats really happening (due to a messed up media) and also a lousy excuse for a education system as regards our own country and political system. And the fact that usually less then half the eligible voters VOTE. That means a lot of power DEFAULTS to the extremes who do most of the voting. And THAT is never good.

You pretty much summed up a good number of my opinions. I agree about the self correcting feature and JTerrel's assertion that dictatorship can be either your worst or best feature.

I mean for this to be a theoretical political thread, one that we look at things on paper and then add the applications in from real world studies.

The problem I have with America's form of democracy isn't the fault of the system, which has some very strong points, but of the constituency. Our form, to work as intended, is predicated on a good (classical) education that involves social and liberal art studies, something that is severely lacking in our school system. It also requires that, like you said, people understand the issues on what they are voting. Finally, you must have participation, which we don't ever succeed in.

These are all fixable flaws; however, there are more that are not fixable and will always keep democracy seriously flawed. It requires that the educated be intelligent. That's more than you can ask of people.

Yeagermeister · 07-19-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by jterrell

I think the ideal system is much akin to what we have now.

A Republic. Our issue is the impact of money buying votes that are contrary to the desires of the constituents. If the Representatives truly represented us we'd have far fewer problems inho.

My utopian system would be a non-discriminatory meritocracy backed with individualism over corporatism.

For me individuals=good; companies=bad.

He agrees

or is it disagrees?