Neil and I share some of the same opinions but have very opposing solutions to many of today’s problems. He puts up long rants and I attempt to reply.
Bottom up versus top down and democracy.
I used to believe in people, the basic good in all of us, the idealism of youth. I no longer do, at least to the same extent. Trump and Brexit have dented that. People still vote for fascists.
To weigh things up and produce rational argument based on logic and science requires intelligence and knowledge of science outside the scope of most people. This is clearly seen with the insane support of psychopathic individuals like trump in the USA and the working class support of Farage and Johnson over here. Why they think these greedy, narcissistic, lying, self-interested millionaires have their interests at heart is beyond me.
The barrage of fake news and propaganda has clearly demonstrated how easy it is to manipulate stupid people.
My major concern is that the average IQ of a person in the UK is 100. Fifty percent have an IQ below 100. The average knowledge of science and ability to reason with knowledge and logic is very low. Most people cannot weigh up the facts and come to intelligent decisions; they lack the ability and knowledge.
Democracy is hence flawed. The vote of an imbecile carries the same weight as a genius and society is controlled by the less intelligent and less knowledgeable.
That pains me to say and makes me seem like an elitist. That I am not. I believe that all people regardless of gender, race or ability are of equal worth – however…..
I do not know how we make democracy work when too many are incapable or ill-informed and are manipulated by devious elitists to vote for psychopaths and sociopaths.
It also blows holes in your bottom up theory. I’d venture that 90% of us are not capable of behaving knowledgably enough – maybe more. Modern life is incredibly complex. Science and economics are beyond most people. I am intelligent but my knowledge is not great enough in many arenas to make valid judgements.
What do you think?
Turning Our World the Right Way Up – Free Life (libertarianism.uk)
ULEZ expansion: damaging, dishonest, and a disgrace to democracy – Free Life (libertarianism.uk)
Opher, you say you have lost belief in the basic good in all of us. My view is that those (most of us) who have remained faithful to the nature of human beings, are still basically good. Those that have allowed themselves to be diverted away from that nature – and that includes the great majority of politicians, bureaucrats, “advisors” and political activists, as well as religious and corporate bosses – have lost that goodness. They have let themselves be corrupted by a corrupt system, and some of them have become instruments of corruption themselves.
Trump is/was, as I have said before, a deeply flawed personality. I can see why so many people bought his wares – they thought he might not be one of the establishment, one of “them.” But once in power, he showed himself to be as much “one of them” as any other politician. He did do some relatively good things; he greatly improved US energy independence by getting fracking moving, and he didn’t start a new war or escalate an existing one (only Ford and Carter among other recent US presidents could match that). But he had some idiot ideas – like the wall – and his departure was, to say the least, ignominious.
As to Brexit, that had and has nothing at all to do with fascism. It was about getting away from the ECJ. We haven’t had the benefits from it that we should have, mainly because the Tory blob has been steadily resisting any repeals of the bad laws that were imposed by the EU. (If you said that the Tory blob – going back all the way to Thatcher and Major, and including May, Johnson, Sunak and most of the current top dogs – have fascist tendencies, I’d have to agree with you. But that’s a criticism of the blob, not of Brexit).
You criticize people of average IQs for not being able to weigh up the facts and come to intelligent decisions. I suspect that the problem is not lack of intelligence, but a lack of what I would call integrity. Faced with a constant bombardment of propaganda from the usual suspects such as the BBC and the mainstream media, they find it hard to think for themselves, and to shrug off the lies and scares. Corrupt systems, and those at the top of them – including Stalin, Hitler, and Pol Pot as well as the Tories – always try to corrupt ordinary people’s minds. As well as suppressing the voices of those who seek to tell the truth, and to encourage people to find out the facts for themselves.
I agree that democracy is flawed. And not just for the reason you give. But I don’t blame the people as much as I blame the politicians themselves. When all or almost all the candidates are psychopaths or sociopaths, the only rational response is not to vote for any of them at all. If really feel you have to vote, you should pick an honest Independent, if there is one. But because many people have been unable to resist the propaganda bombardment, they can’t yet see the deep-seated badness of all the options they are allowed.
I don’t think we can make democracy work, as long as the political state exists. What we need is a system that can work for everyone – and that is what I am trying to build the foundations for.