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What if there really was a democracy?! Real Democracy in effect:


Even if it was a real democracy, it would not necessarily be an ideal system. There's a problem of "tyranny by The Majority". Although many supposedly democratic countries aren't really democratic, (see people don't vote FOR politicians and The myth of Democracy), it could be that at some time in the future, people won't put up with politicians anymore and there will be a REAL DEMOCRACY.

Whilst some people assume this would be an ideal society of an Athenian Dream, there are a few things which might make it not so ideal, especially to start with.

People have lived under the iron rule of supposedly democratic regimes for so long and become so weary of the ranting of politicians that they have lost the ability to have good judgement themselves. However, if democracy was declared tomorrow, within ten years people would have learnt to be reasonable.

At the hands of the rule of the true majority, ignorance would prevail, at least to start with. For example paediatricians would have a hard time. Various rash and regrettable rules would be enacted, but later found to be at fault. Some traffic offences might incur the death penalty, and it would be tricky to pardon the convicted after sentence had been carried out. Minorities would suffer. Life would not be easy in a true democracy.

However there is a philosophical position believed by many people, which is that the majority has a fundamental right to rule.

To what extent the true will of the people would make a mess of ruling, and to what extent the people would learn and make wiser decisions as time went on, we could only find out if it happened. Ultimately we may find out, as true democracy may actually happen. It may happen in time, as people gain more power by the Internet and realise how easy it would be to overthrow governments.

Switzerland is closer to being a true democracy than most so-called democratic countries, but Swiss people have learnt how to cope with it to some extent.

Retrospectively, the era of the late 20th and early 21st Century, when people allowed themselves to be ruled over by politicians who were believed to have been "voted for", may seem as daft as earlier notions of "the divine right of kings" were considered to be.