We are surrounded by idiots

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

...We are surrounded by idiots, and unfortunately, they MAY be in the majority.

El T's tat thread got me to thinking.  What does it say about pure democracy if the majority of the masses used to ride the short bus to school?

Does that speak to the wisdom of the founding fathers at having made it a representative republic instead of pure democracy?  Or does that successfully counteract the "most people are idiots" hypothesis?

Just thinking aloud...
anyone care to comment?

[griz]

Half the people out there are below average, kind of hard to get around that. My worry is we send average kids to school and instead of learning the three Rs they get taught that the government is the answer to everything.

[RealGun]

...We are surrounded by idiots, and unfortunately, they MAY be in the majority.

El T's tat thread got me to thinking.  What does it say about pure democracy if the majority of the masses used to ride the short bus to school?

Does that speak to the wisdom of the founding fathers at having made it a representative republic instead of pure democracy?  Or does that successfully counteract the "most people are idiots" hypothesis?

Just thinking aloud...
anyone care to comment?

Don't be feeling too elitist. There are many we shouldn't underestimate. Nevertheless, the lack of education or the lack of motivation to pursue it is something we definitely need to address. We also have the problem of people voting for reasons that should be irrelevant.

[K Frame]

You're just now figuring that out?

[Werewolf]

There's a reason the founding fathers gave the vote only to the landed gentry...

Think about it. Educated, wealth builders with the most to lose if things go awry.

As for pure democracy. PUHLEEEEEZ! This country wouldn't have lasted 20 years let alone 200 if the rabble really were in charge.

It's bad enough as it is - let's not make it any worse by suggesting a pure democracy.

[Guest]

friggin lefty libs are sugesting exactly THAT.  democracy in purest form

the flip side to that (and the current source to many of our problems) is that we seem to have a political class running things.  no long is it the landed gentry and business types,  but a bunch of self righteous aholes that think its thier birthright to tell everyone else what to do (senators kennedy and clinton, call your office..)

[The Rabbi]

One of the big political philosophers (maybe it was Locke) opined that democracy was a short lived phenomenon because the classes with no stake in the system would consistently vote themselves more and bigger entitlements and bankrupt the system.

[K Frame]

Democracy in its purest form is absolutely unworkable. The Athenians found that out the hard way. It works great if your economy is supported by a disenfranchised slave class that allows all voting members the freedom to hop down to the Agora every day to vote on the latest issues, but if people have to work for a living, it's completely untenable.

[Paddy]

The problem is not the perps and/or other assorted lowlife.  The problem is that NOBODY, really NOBODY is competent anymore.  And I mean the people who run things.  All the way from government to business to medicine you can't really trust the 'professionals'.  You have to question, investigate and research everything yourself, and you'll still come up short.