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Hi,

Yes it is, voters can do more than just vote. It is their/our job to check up on what the government is doing, objecting when necessary by demonstrating (physically or virtually). Idly standing by while things happen to complain afterwards just seams weak and is no way to make the government know they only exist to serve the people instead of the other way around.

Why doesn't the voter do more to ensure more choices?

And you think that direct democracy scales? Or that direct democracy is a good way of preserving freedoms in all scenarios?

The only scalable thing is stupidity - it has no limits.

And obviously there is the Power Distance Index and other cultural differences. But people that preach their beliefs onto others never care about "those silly things"... isn't it right, Mr Preacher?


And in no way I am for the American 2 party system, it's not representative and has more divisions than a multi-party system as a result(conservative/moderate/extreme on both sides).

In short, ideally a meritocracy would be the perfect system of government, but it implies either aristocracy, autocracy or everyone being on the same level of education/intellect. And we get back to the same utopian visions that Marx had about economic systems.

Democracy only works when voters see both the outcome and the cost of government actions. Do you want more welfare? No problem, and BTW here is your bill (taxes). This automatically prevents the government from spending too much and thus from growing too big. This is good, because once government gets too much power it always starts using it for its own benefits and against the voters. Selling its power to large corporations is only one of the symptoms. At some point it becomes big and powerful enough that it can override voters' decisions, either by media or by force.

What we are now suffering from, I think, is the lack of accountability. Governments all over the "western" world are trying to overspend each other going heavily into debt. Debt is such a fantastic tool because voters don't care about it, at least not immediately. The government can spend more, charge less and grow, grow, grow...

That of course wouldn't be possible if developing countries didn't provide us with cheap goods (read: take our inflation away) and at the same time lend us back the money they have just earned. This not only fuels the growth of our governments but it also keeps currency exchange rates unbalanced (if our USD/EUR were going in only one direction - out - that would quickly increase value of the exporters' currencies).

However, I wouldn't blame Saudi Arabia, China or any other country for our tendency of spending more than we have. Ultimately, it was our (government's) choice to borrow and print these money. No one could come to us and force use to borrow money unless we agreed to it.

There is one thing you forget, if you look at the USA, all the candidates that run for president are backed by big financial institutions like Goldman Sachs and others.

They decide who will run for president and if the candidate is not suitable for the job because he is against the so called 'elite' they won't back him. If he still gets a lot of votes they will humiliate him and if he still gets elected they will kill him (Kennedy).

You can't vote for the people running these companies so you have nothing to vote for, surely you can vote republican or democrats but not before both candidates went through a full screening by the big financials.

What's even more funny is that you live in Switzerland. Switzerland runs entirely on banks. Banks are the boss in your country, it's Switzerland's nr. 1 export product. All the money the rich Greeks stole from their people is in your banks right now. Hell, all the nazi gold from World War II is still in your banks as well.

Stop making a fool out of yourself by being so naive. You don't have democracy, nobody will ever have democracy as long as the monetary system exists.

Here's a couple of quotes for you:

"Give me control over a nations currency, and I care not who makes its laws.”

Baron M.A. Rothschild

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Especially the last one seems to fit you really well.

That qoute was absolutely horrible. First of all RANDOM kindness? It takes a mind to do anything sane, forget about randomness. And ofcourse the obscurity of Evan vs "God".

Sounds like a pseudobuddhistic statement. Where concepts like "God" and "buddha" is killed, in favor of egolessness. Ofcourse they still have "buddhanature" which equals the real God. GOD of all worlds. To some though particulary people who deal with egolessness "god" is a spirit, and must be defeated. A correct concept of God, makes a quiet and peaceful mind though. But that is dualism, and not pantheism, like many buddhists believe in. Ofcourse if you believe in pantheism, you must make extra effort to kill the unpeace from the misbelief. But standard dualistic teachings, where God, correctly equals the first cause, the transcendent, the paradoxical void, such as in Islam (The Quran, not sectarian), are peaceful.

Peace!

I wouldn't brag about my country when its first industry is laundering money for all the criminals on the planet...

Edited 2012-02-21 07:08 UTC