I would like to know why we have representatives at all, would an aristocracy be much worse?
Yes, I think it would be,eventually. Much worse. Representative democracy provides a relief valve—if the ruling class or ruling party becomes too corrupt or too out of touch, the people can rise up and “throw the rascals out”. In an autocracy, it takes a revolution or coup to accomplish change, and that can be much bloodier and messier.
That is the theory anyways. But when I try to find examples, they don’t necessarily prove what I want them to prove. The Mexican electorate threw out the PRI, but it may not have made things better. India threw out Congress—I’m not sure India got better, though Congress maybe did. Japan threw out LDP—I suppose that was for the best.
For negative examples, I have Iran and Russia—two mostly failed non-violent revolutions. And then there are some cross-examples: Columbia, Peru, and Rwanda suffered bloody revolutionary violence even though they were mostly democratic.
Hmmm. The more I think about my examples, the less convinced I am of the advantages of representative democracy.
Hmm, you mean something like “If I hate oppression and oppression correlates with lack of democracy, does China’s oppression cause lack of democracy, or does China’s lack of democracy cause oppression? Or both, or neither?”
I don’t know. Figuring out causation is a big problem, not just for this issue, but for all issues—a relevant post is Timeless Causality
Yes, I think it would be,eventually. Much worse. Representative democracy provides a relief valve—if the ruling class or ruling party becomes too corrupt or too out of touch, the people can rise up and “throw the rascals out”. In an autocracy, it takes a revolution or coup to accomplish change, and that can be much bloodier and messier.
That is the theory anyways. But when I try to find examples, they don’t necessarily prove what I want them to prove. The Mexican electorate threw out the PRI, but it may not have made things better. India threw out Congress—I’m not sure India got better, though Congress maybe did. Japan threw out LDP—I suppose that was for the best.
For negative examples, I have Iran and Russia—two mostly failed non-violent revolutions. And then there are some cross-examples: Columbia, Peru, and Rwanda suffered bloody revolutionary violence even though they were mostly democratic.
Hmmm. The more I think about my examples, the less convinced I am of the advantages of representative democracy.
Make two lists, one with countries that have representative democracy, and one with countries that don’t.
Then decide which set you’d rather live in. Not experience a revolution, just live in normal times under.
That establishes correlation. What do I do to establish causation?
Hmm, you mean something like “If I hate oppression and oppression correlates with lack of democracy, does China’s oppression cause lack of democracy, or does China’s lack of democracy cause oppression? Or both, or neither?”
I don’t know. Figuring out causation is a big problem, not just for this issue, but for all issues—a relevant post is Timeless Causality