Analysis of Democracy essays

Analysis of Democracy essays George Bernard Shaw once said: "Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few...", and while I don't have nearly such a bleak outlook on our method of government, Mr. Shaw does hold an iota of truth in his quotation. In a perfect world, where everyone is informed, intelligent, and aware of their system of administration, democracy would work perfectly. In a world where there are different personalities, dissimilar concerns and divergent points of view, democracy falls short of the ideal of having all people being equal. Similarly, having a Philosopher-King or an equivalent in control of a country sounds fine on paper, but there would be different philosophies, disputes within the philosopher-king hierarchy itself, and of course, the never-ending task of stabilizing an entire country would daunt even the most qualified person. It is a mechanical fault of democracy itself, and not the many leaders caught up in a democratic bureaucracy that causes a country to stumble. A democracy is where the government is run by all the people who live under it. To have a true democracy, everyone must vote. People vote to exercise their democratic rights; if only 70% vote, then 70% control 100% of the government. Voting without adequate understanding and choosing candidates for the wrong reasons are symptoms of voting for the sake of voting and not taking an active interest in how our country is run. Instead of making an effort to understand issues and party fundamentals, too many ignorant people actually base their decisions on what the candidates tell them. The result is that everybody feels "burned" by the government, never realizing that they could have tipped the election simply by paying attention. Another problem with democracy is the structure of any government's bureaucracy. Vote for a party/candidate only in principle, because in practice, they act complet ...