Quote:
Originally Posted by konart
I find it utterly stupid. -_-
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Democracies certainly have their shortcomings but without it you maybe forcing people to accept practices and ideologies they do not wish to follow. That will cause social friction particularly if those policies fail. This brings on another issue, if you don't have a democracy then it is less likely you will have accountability. If a politician fails in a democracy he loses his power but in other regimes that is less likely to happen. This can lead to long-term instabilities as the person or body in power no longer has the legitimacy to govern the land. This means any social or political reform can only happen through revolution which is inherently a chaotic process.
Democracy is not perfect and perhaps compromises can be made by having a republic. People have certain fundamental rights that cannot be altered or violated by the state but above these basic rights the state can change what it wishes. In addition citizens may need to perform certain responsibilities before gaining their full rights or full citizenship.
This other alternative could be achieved if people needed to demonstrate a certain level of intelligence and awareness/responsibility to be given the right to vote. This balance of rights/responsibilities did indeed happen in some ancient societies but then these processes are still open to corruption/abuse and certain disadvantaged people could lose out in such a social arrangement through no fault of their own. I suppose if it was embodied as a basic right that people will have access to education and the only obligation of the citizen was to pass some exam to allow them the right the vote it could work... But I guess this is another topic for discussion.