andyandy
04-26-2006, 10:07 PM
thought i'd open a can of worms.....
For the past several hundred years of human civilisation the global community has gradually converged on the democratic model as the ultimate way of fair governance.....so much so that its almost accepted as the "default setting" - people free to choose choose democracy.....and democracy does work on many levels, providing a degree of accountability to government that no other system can acheive....however there is one major flaw.....the democratic model only achieves good short term results.....
a case in point global warming (if u dont believe its happening then follow this through as a thought experiment - its still valid)
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air has doubled since the start of the industrial revolution - and all projections agree that it will continue to rise throughout the 21st century. Many scientists agree that there is a "tipping point" at which the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere enters into a loopback system - at which point massive climate change is inevitable and irreversible. despite an accepted real threat "sometime in the future" attempts to limit emmisions by the Kyoto protocol have failed miserably - largely due to the democratic process. Governments around the world generally rule for 4 or 5 years. Once in power their primary concern is re-election after those 4 or 5 years. that means their policies need to be quick fix - "in two years we've cut crime by 20%" "in the last 4 years unemployemt has hit an all time low." That's all well and good....but which politician wants to stand on the election stand and talk about how he can save mankind at an indeterminable point in the future by imposing a 40% tax hike on gas, raising base tax 10% to pay for the transition from carbon based to renewable energy and accepting that the economic slowdown and job-losses as a result of his policies will be hard to take but "worth it in the long run?"
the point may be slightly laboured, but what it comes down to is this - democracy is unable to deal effectivly with long term issues for which the solution requires short term hardships. That's why we have a pensions crisis looming....that's why no-ones doing anything about global warming - for both these issues when the crunch comes it'll be too late for short term policies to fix them.....
so anyone any better ideas? - maybe some kind of infinitely wise and good dictator - his opinions universally respected by the populace - able to push through long term policies without any fear of being voted out of office....
please discuss :)
For the past several hundred years of human civilisation the global community has gradually converged on the democratic model as the ultimate way of fair governance.....so much so that its almost accepted as the "default setting" - people free to choose choose democracy.....and democracy does work on many levels, providing a degree of accountability to government that no other system can acheive....however there is one major flaw.....the democratic model only achieves good short term results.....
a case in point global warming (if u dont believe its happening then follow this through as a thought experiment - its still valid)
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air has doubled since the start of the industrial revolution - and all projections agree that it will continue to rise throughout the 21st century. Many scientists agree that there is a "tipping point" at which the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere enters into a loopback system - at which point massive climate change is inevitable and irreversible. despite an accepted real threat "sometime in the future" attempts to limit emmisions by the Kyoto protocol have failed miserably - largely due to the democratic process. Governments around the world generally rule for 4 or 5 years. Once in power their primary concern is re-election after those 4 or 5 years. that means their policies need to be quick fix - "in two years we've cut crime by 20%" "in the last 4 years unemployemt has hit an all time low." That's all well and good....but which politician wants to stand on the election stand and talk about how he can save mankind at an indeterminable point in the future by imposing a 40% tax hike on gas, raising base tax 10% to pay for the transition from carbon based to renewable energy and accepting that the economic slowdown and job-losses as a result of his policies will be hard to take but "worth it in the long run?"
the point may be slightly laboured, but what it comes down to is this - democracy is unable to deal effectivly with long term issues for which the solution requires short term hardships. That's why we have a pensions crisis looming....that's why no-ones doing anything about global warming - for both these issues when the crunch comes it'll be too late for short term policies to fix them.....
so anyone any better ideas? - maybe some kind of infinitely wise and good dictator - his opinions universally respected by the populace - able to push through long term policies without any fear of being voted out of office....
please discuss :)