RE: Exposing The Mind Of The Average Voter + Discussion On The Harmful Consequences Of Mindless Decentralization
I think I give a vote to every post you make... you do have a few typos at the start of the post however...
It's incredible how many people fail to realize this, I have a draft that shares ground with this post, except this one has quotes and it's more informative than mine... I live in Cuba, third world country, communist country, etc... etc... decentralization is something common around here, and it's POISON, just like you said. In the beginning it was good, but as time passed it devolved and devolved... today it resembles anarchy in many places. There aren't people responsible for things, there is centralization within the decentralization as well, there is a lot of danger in such a system. No system is perfect, just like you said, a fully centralized system has a top, and it depends on the individuals in power. True democracy requires of skilled individuals very different from those you cited above. The government of the USA, a representative government is probably one of the bests, since the people who reach the top are those who can manipulate the minds of those below and make them vote for them. I agree with you, I'm neither right nor left and modern brainwashing have reached dangerous levels. In the end the world is just a huge meritocracy where people decide the value of other people and give or take power from them...
However, with our limited power and influence, there is only so much we can do, let's us see where this path takes us.
The good/bad news is that the bad systems eventually fall apart. Even just having the ability to manipulate people isn't enough. that's just one skill and it has misaligned incentives. It's better than what's going on in many countries across the globe. But it is going to crumble because the incentives aren't there for long term development.
One advantage on the Chinese one party rule is that despite all the bad stuff they are stuck for the long term. So the government plans ahead. it can start projects that's going to take decades to finish while US politicians only think about getting the vote on the next election.
Places like Dubai has (economically) prospered because those who had the power and money worked in their own self-interest. Here is a good article: https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/how-dubai-became-dubai
When the people making decisions have something to gain/loose the system tends to be better. Founding fathers were disgusted of one head one vote systems. they only wanted the land owners to vote. this would have made sure the voters vote for constructive policies and the non-voters had the incentive to keep the government powers in check. It's not perfect but there was a good equilibrium.
Yeah, you do have a good point... when you have only a few years to work the magic it's hard to make some big scale projects come to fruition. In the USA it's true that the politicians only think on the next vote, this leads to many great promises in elections, but after they get elected things change drastically until the next election circle. I don't know about the chinese government, but from what I'm reading it's a party government that lasts for a few decades at least?, or until they're replaced?, I'm going to check it out after replying to comments.
I would agree about not giving votes to everyone either... do you watch anime by any chance? I remember one particular series that touched social interaction and how many people just follow the flow even for incredibly important things like elections. I had to scourge the internet to find it again since I couldn´t remember the name, it's Gatchaman Crowds. In the anime there was a moment during elections where people could vote from their cellphones with one of three options: yes, no and leave it to the CROWDS, who supposedly would choose the accepted answer by society in general... Of course, since it's anime they exaggerated things a bit and added superpowers and the good guys win in the end but they do touch some delicate subjects on the theme.
In the end I suppose there isn't a perfect system yet, but at least we do know what doesn't work. Tyranny government or anarchy aren't good, as you said, there needs to be some balance between centralization and decentralization. The idea of the founding fathers weren't perfect of course, but it was a good base, I have to admit it.
Glad to know that you love anime. Some of my earliest posts on steemit were on anime:
https://steemit.com/anime/@vimukthi/fate-zero-an-anime-masterpiece-ft-king-arthur-who-is-actually-a-woman-and-a-lesbian-in-a-battle-royale-against-6-other
https://steemit.com/anime/@vimukthi/anime-studio-spotlight-ufotable-madhouse-with-anime-reccomendations-extra-stuff-at-the-end
I'm a huge fan of Gen Urobuchi. So this is the best anime review I've done: https://steemit.com/entertainment/@vimukthi/why-and-how-you-should-watch-aldnoah-zero-review-analysis-love-letter-and-personal-thoughts
Yeah, I tend to write thoughts just as they come to mind, but from your avatar and the Makishima Shugo nickname it should have been obvious that you've seen your share of anime too.
Glad to see you like ufotable and madhouse too; I loved aldnoah zero too. One of these days once I've gotten some more free time I'd like to make some reviews of my own... This season has been a really funny one though, haven't laughed this hard since Detroit Metal City.
I had some amazing time with Angel Beats. Didn't think much of it and watched because a friend gave it to me. It was a top notch comedy with beautiful production quality and it had so much great drama. Basically it's about afterlife and growing up and graduating and people die all the time one after the other.
And I finished reading the article about Dubai now, yeah, definitely a good article, I never would have believe this if someone else had told me... Definitely one of the best articles I've read about authocracies in general...