Some questions about democracy

[Audley Strange]

I do like big black cock. No denying that. I am a troll. Nothing more.

Damnit!
Wife got my phone again.

Is "Wife" saying she likes big black cock or you like big black cock? Or is that you pretending to be "Wife" so you can use a secondary persona to confess your homoerotic miscegenation fantasies?

[Tyrannical]

Wife is a mischievous little minx that knows what buttons to push to annoy me on my forums.
I'll go post on her Disney forums that there are too many Negroes and coulored people around, and it makes her feel unsafe.

[John_fi_Skye]

Wife is a mischievous little minx that knows what buttons to push to annoy me on my forums.
I'll go post on her Disney forums that there are too many Negroes and coulored people around, and it makes her feel unsafe.

Bad spelling causes her insecurity?

[Tyrannical]

iPhones cause bad spellenz.

[Red Celt]

Wife is a mischievous little minx that knows what buttons to push to annoy me on my forums.
I'll go post on her Disney forums that there are too many Negroes and coulored people around, and it makes her feel unsafe.

He black.

[pErvinalia]

Robert Heinlein went further and suggested that EVERYONE should be part of the second-class non-voting citizenry unless and until they serve a term of public service in the military or some other public entity like police, firefighting, trash collectors or whatnot.

You want people to serve as part of the socialist mechanism of the state before they can vote? You old Marxist you!

[Seth]

Robert Heinlein went further and suggested that EVERYONE should be part of the second-class non-voting citizenry unless and until they serve a term of public service in the military or some other public entity like police, firefighting, trash collectors or whatnot.

You want people to serve as part of the socialist mechanism of the state before they can vote? You old Marxist you!

Nothing socialist about it. You want to vote, you have to pay your dues.

[MrJonno]

Well the idea that you only get a vote if have worked in the public sector is quite an interesting one. I've worked in both and the only time I felt I contributed to the running of civilization was in the public sector while the private sector was just persuading people to buy shit they didnt need

[Svartalf]

When I worked as a civil servant, I mostly felt useless and misused.

[JimC]

Well the idea that you only get a vote if have worked in the public sector is quite an interesting one. I've worked in both and the only time I felt I contributed to the running of civilization was in the public sector while the private sector was just persuading people to buy shit they didnt need

Good point - please explain, libertarian fanatics...

[Tyrannical]

Wife is a mischievous little minx that knows what buttons to push to annoy me on my forums.
I'll go post on her Disney forums that there are too many Negroes and coulored people around, and it makes her feel unsafe.

He black.

Must be why I prefer the ducks over the mouse.

[JimC]

Here we have geese, ducks, grebes, loons and geese fucking each other and producing viable offspring...

My inner biologist is mouthing particularly fowl swearwords...

[Pappa]

A question that often pops into my mind is whether democracy could work, or work better, without political parties. That's as far as my question has ever got, though.

Could we elect our local representative on the basis of their own stance on issues? Could those representatives then elect (amongst themselves) a cabinet and leader for the coming term, on the basis of their actual skills and qualifications, or on the basis of past political achievements? Could policy be determined by those representatives actually voting for and against stuff on the basis of their own / their constituents' views, and not along party lines? Would it all just degenerate into "my mates" and "your mates"? What would be the checks and balances for such a system? I dunno - I just wonder whether the party system (which eventually polarises into a two-party system) is inherent in the failing of politics, at least in terms of how it's viewed by the public.

Anyway... As I said, I've never put much thought into it, as you can tell.

I've pondered similarly. I heard an interesting argument against the idea a while back though....

Political parties make ties and affiliations explicit, whereas in a party-free system, voters would have very little ability to assess the hidden agendas and affiliations of the potential candidates.

[JimC]

A question that often pops into my mind is whether democracy could work, or work better, without political parties. That's as far as my question has ever got, though.

Could we elect our local representative on the basis of their own stance on issues? Could those representatives then elect (amongst themselves) a cabinet and leader for the coming term, on the basis of their actual skills and qualifications, or on the basis of past political achievements? Could policy be determined by those representatives actually voting for and against stuff on the basis of their own / their constituents' views, and not along party lines? Would it all just degenerate into "my mates" and "your mates"? What would be the checks and balances for such a system? I dunno - I just wonder whether the party system (which eventually polarises into a two-party system) is inherent in the failing of politics, at least in terms of how it's viewed by the public.

Anyway... As I said, I've never put much thought into it, as you can tell.

I've pondered similarly. I heard an interesting argument against the idea a while back though....

Political parties make ties and affiliations explicit, whereas in a party-free system, voters would have very little ability to assess the hidden agendas and affiliations of the potential candidates.

If all candidates had to answer a specific set of well designed questions on policy, and the results were on-line for voters who cared to examine them...

If, after being elected, the voting record of every member was available in an easy to analyse format on-line, then voters who cared would be able to see the patterns clearly enough...

"Voters who cared..."

I think I just found a depressing flaw in my argument...