The Central Flaw of Democracy:
People who have not worked for it get to decide how to spend other people's money.
It is a basic problem of Conflict of Interest. Those who vote for a living will begin to outnumber those who work for a living, & the downward spiral has begun.
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the Public Treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the Public Treasury with a result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy always followed by dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years." ~Sir Alexander Fraser Tyler
I saw this in the republican debate last night. All the politicians promise goodies from the treasury. Public service is lauded as the most virtuous career. Police, fire, & military are elevated as icons of humanity, when it is the taxpaying producer who pays their salaries. Justice providers are a necessary evil.. an expense on the producing segments of society. But those blinded by the lights & glory of Govt cannot see the source of their very survival: The producing, working man.
It is an inherent flaw of any democracy, made worse by a watered down citizenry, state centered propaganda, & universal suffrage. This is not the goal of American Governance. This is a bastardization of the American Experiment, driving it to ruin.
“We are a Republican Government. Real liberty is never found in despotism or in the extremes of Democracy… It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure deformity.” ~ Alexander Hamilton
Problems
- Diluted Citizenship. Citizenship is treated as a cheap commodity, rather than a sacred duty. It is handed out like candy, to anyone who wants to vote. This has been the METHOD that the statists have used to usurp the rule of citizens, by flooding the electorate with useful idiots & self interested voters.
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter. ~Winston Churchill
- Ruling Elite. For self rule to work, you have to have CITIZEN Representatives. Public service cannot be a magnet for shysters & scoundrels, looking for easy living. They have turned the American Experiment into a den of thieves, not a rotation of representatives with the interests of the tax PAYERS in mind.
"All [reforms] can be... [achieved] peaceably by the people confining their choice of Representatives and Senators to persons attached to republican government and the principles of 1776; not office-hunters, but farmers whose interests are entirely agricultural. Such men are the true representatives of the great American interest and are alone to be relied on for expressing the proper American sentiments." ~Thomas Jefferson
- Conflict of Interest. The control & management of the public treasury is in the hands of those who have not contributed to it. It is easy for them to hand out goodies from the treasury for votes. It compounds & snowballs into corruption, & it has corrupted the American System of govt.
Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what you think it is you want to hear. ~Alan Corenk
Propaganda is to a democracy what violence is to a dictatorship. ~ William Blum
Solutions
- Term Limits. End the 'career politician'. Structure our electoral process so that 'drudgery & subsistence' is the only draw for public service. Duty & SERVICE should attract altruistic citizens into collective administration. Lock down the revolving door to riches, which is the current system.
"Our public economy is such as to offer drudgery and subsistence only to those entrusted with its administration--a wise and necessary precaution against the degeneracy of the public servants." ~Thomas Jefferson
- Balanced Budget. The accountants of the public treasury should have the same constraints as everyone else. They should not spend more than they take in. It is immoral to burden future generations with the excesses & folly of previous ones.
- Cherished Citizenry. Being a Citizen should be difficult & hold accountability. It should not be open to anyone. Only those who actually produce wealth for the nation should have a vote. Leeches & dependents should not be part of the spending decision process, as they will always lean toward corruption. Universal suffrage is an enemy of a stable, productive society. It breeds dependency & corruption, & is the primary problem in Western democracies.
- Civil Disobedience. This quote by Franklin is often used as a 2nd amendment support, but it is about the inherent flaws in a democracy. “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.” ~Benjamin Franklin. At some point, the working producers will have to throw off the tyranny of the moochers & looters, & their conspiracy against them. This seldom happens peacefully. Liberty is always well armed.
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." ~Thomas Jefferson
The ONLY way to get back on a sustainable track is to address the FUNDAMENTAL problems in our governance. It is mostly about the money, & those administering it. Politicians are like Parade Queens, tossing out the taxpayer's hard earned money like candy. It is a flaw in the core of our system, & one the founders foresaw. But we have not heeded the warnings, but let a professional ruling elite gain control, enabled by the mooching hordes who are too happy to vote the looters in. If we do NOT address & face the flaw of Conflict of Interest in our system, they will continue, & eventually destroy us.
