h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...and a few Aussie soldiers too ....
.. and despite what I said about voting for politicians, democracy is a darn sight better than dictatorship!

Although surely a fair dictator is better than an evil politician?

<BB<

I'm fair at dictation...

~sigh~

*Goes to bar and gets a . Goes to fireplace and puts on another log. Goes to jukebox and plays "Bridge Over Troubled Water". Goes to rocking chair and sits down. Rocks. Drinks.*

I miss Gwennie and Pandora and Linus.

*nods, sips drink*

hi folks...

brrrrrr... is that cold...

*Kasia goes to the fireplace...puting her hands right before the nice warm..*

I need some with rum...

Hi Kasia! It is good to see you here again! We were just talking about the "regulars" ... and here you are! The owner!
*Prepares some tea with rum and offers it to Kasia*'
That should warm the bits the fire doesn't reach! How are you?

"Although surely a fair dictator is better than an evil politician?"

I disagree, BB. No matter how fair a dictator may be he will always be sort of an "evil politician": He takes the responsibility away from the people and he makes them used to dictatorship - just to name two things.

Democracy does not come easy and by itself. And once you've got it you still have to fight for it every day!

I do not feel that any country in this has a true democracy.
The technology exists for every person to vote on every issue, yet we still elect politicians to make those decisions for us. Why? How is that a democracy when, the population elects a representative who will spend 4 years doing what he wants to?

<BB<

*innocently* Er ...nice time of year for the weather we're having ....

Yes. Shame about the lack of

<BB<

;:off in her own world listening to the Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack, which is kinda giving her the courage to tell her parents she's going to Boston for New Years::

It's THANKSGIVING!!!... do you know where your turkey is!??

...(basically the same place for about four more years... )

That was mean.!!!

So: Kes want´s to talk about weather, D is trying to cope with Thanksgiving, Family and how to survive four years of collage... I see there´s a small group of socialist voters from Denmark, thinking of the posibilities a tyrany could have and opt against it... a small discussion about tea, and the people visiting this place...

Shall we have a vote on the question which subject we´ll continue discussing?

Democracy doesn´t mean voting about every tidbit (We could open another moderation desk: Every posting has to be sent to all the users of h2g2, and and they then have to vote for the publication...)

I think the idea of having leadership is, that not every person is capable to lead a big group. To form the rules it´s rather impractical to let 160.000.000 people decide on the rules involved so we use delegates... and by voting we give our consent for these people to do the job...

There´s some more terms of democracy I find important: Lobbyists, Pluralism (DAMN important), control of the democratic system, legislativ, judicativ and executiv being sepearted and so on...

And the posibility to voice your opinion, and forbiding rightwing propaganda...

Yes, but there's a key point here. The people we elect - are they delegates, or representatives? We might think they are delegates ...that they will do specifically what we wanted them to do (our vote for their policy means they must follow the policy). Unfortunately, most political systems regard the politicians as representatives ... so we vote them in, but then they get to do what they "think is best for us".

So, Englander ... yes, I like delegation .... but we don't have it in many democracies

...and I'll have another

Being able to vote is the key. There is the real power. And yes, every vote counts and is important. Look how close the elections were in the States last time. (for President)

There were many disenfranchised Democrats who voted for Ralph Nader, a third party candidate. This took votes away from Al Gore and tipped the balance to George Bush.... barely.

When Nixon and Watergate happened the voice of the people was heard and impeachment proceedings began.

What needs to be changed badly is how the media covers the various candidates. There needs to be a level playing field so the issues can be understood by the voters. Now money for advertising and 'air time' determines which candidates are heard.

*Hands Kes a and mixes a for herself.*

History lessons here in german Gymnasiums (as I had it to get my Abitur equivalent to A-levels and the bacalaureat...) were very indepth on the questions of democracy etc, because of the "Machtergreifung" (taking of power) by Hitler... It is very interesting to see how democracy, the question of how you count votes, which subjects are voted on, how many parties are votable, and a thousend more situation (media, general public opinion, Charisma of a single person) can change the situation of a country... Sometimes countries just seam to be lucky voting in the right people... If I have a look at Argentinia and Chile, now there are some funny goings on... look at this Mr. Menem... someone like that over here would have had his time in parliament...

There is a new method of balloting being discussed and considered here. The voter would rate all candidates running for an office rather than vote for just one. If there were 7 candidates then the voter would rate their number one choice, their second choice, their third... and on through seven.

Local vote runs in that way over here. you get the amount of votes as there are candidates, and can give up to three votes per candidate.. So if there are 18 candidates, you have 18 votes, and that´s 6 people with 3 votes, or 18 with one, or you can only vote for one and let the other votes drop...

It´s a pretty difficult job counting those ballots of course...

*Gives Englander a *

Never mind, let's allow the world to chug on by on its own. Would you like a or a cup of ? What can I get you?

Oh, I think I´ll have a to go along with the "Weihnachtsstollen" I´ve got here... That´s a special cake made around christmas... A littel like "Christmascake light"... It´s got all the raisens but a far lighter dough...