Democracy

[Blurock]

I have seen some very stupid, educated people in my lifetime...

[adrianh]

You all miss one important point and it is that the masses in this country prove that democracy works by using their one man one vote. It is unfortunate that they all vote for the wrong party but that is the way democracy works - The people get to choose.

after all the politicians are are educated now aren't they, and they should know better.

JZ has a standard 2

[Dave A]

What's the difference between democracy and an opt-in 4 year dictatorship?

Not too much in our current situation perhaps, but at least it's not indefinite

[Justloadit]

JZ has a standard 2

True, and his vote trumps yours, so effectively you have no say. But he also has the power to woe the uneducated masses with unrealistic promises.

[Doug B]

What's the difference between democracy and an opt-in 4 year dictatorship?

Legislature is the difference and in Africa unfortunately, we seem to be either over or under. Some of our legislature is so ridiculous, it would make the most civilized countries in the world seem years behind. That's Africa for you. Talk, talk, talk, talk, blah, blah. Take the Consumer Act for instance, that's a whole new ball game. Let's take for example the scrapping of Transfer Duty on properties less than R500 000, brought in a few years back. Who was this aimed at? The entry level income class BUT what some bright spark didn't realise was what about brand new developments aimed at the same class? VAT remained. The 14% the developer had to pay was passed on to the buyer- normal transfer duty was 8%!

[adrianh]

True, and his vote trumps yours, so effectively you have no say.

Excuse me...Where does this come from. How about you stick to the topic at hand a leave the clever chirps.

[Dave A]

We were talking about democracy, and leveraged voting powers, weren't we?

[Justloadit]

Excuse me...Where does this come from. How about you stick to the topic at hand a leave the clever chirps.

Dunno what you mean by clever chirps - you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure this one out, and we are talking about democracy in RSA - one man one vote.

Maybe an explanation may be in order then - If you use your one vote for lets say the DA, and JZ will use his one vote - he will certainly vote for ANC, so your vote is effectively nullified. Now all he does is rally his supporters to vote for ANC, and bang you are outvoted millions to one. He will have access to your pocket via taxes, and you will have absolutely no say in where he uses your money.

[adrianh]

Your post

after all the politicians are are educated now aren't they, and they should know better.

My post

JZ has a standard 2

Your post

True, and his vote trumps yours, so effectively you have no say. But he also has the power to woe the uneducated masses with unrealistic promises.

Ok, lets do this another way...So why exactly does his vote trump mine?

[Justloadit]

Ok, lets do this another way...So why exactly does his vote trump mine?

Adrian,

You have chosen one politician, and what is your definition of educated? he has a standard 2 as per your reference, that means he has an education.

Secondly as I explained in my post just before yours, in a one man one vote environment, your vote is cancelled out by his vote, unless you are voting for the same party , and he has a helva lot more influence on his followers to vote towards his choice than what you have, which means a far higher amount of influenced votes will be cast, drowning you out of the race. So effectively the cast of his vote along with his influence has taken you out of the game. Now in my book if you taken out of the game, you have lost.

[Doug B]

Justloadit....whoaaa safari ! are we comparing apples with apples ? One (JZ) is a politician and me just a beach loving average joe guy with no interest in politics ! Of course he is gonna nullify my vote andwipe me out! He has people voting for him,that's his job, there is no "game" here..lol...

[flaker]

I think that a value of a vote should be directly proportional to the education level.

No education - 1 Vote
Up to Grade 7 - 2 Votes
Up to grade 11 - 3 Votes
Secondary education Certificate 4 - Votes
Secondary education Diploma - 8 Votes
Secondary Education - Degree and higher - 10 Votes

This will have a 2 fold effect, firstly it places emphasis on education, and secondly the more educated one is, the more intelligent the vote cast will be.

A one man one vote is definitely not the solution, the masses are too easily fooled in to believing.

Is that not how we voted apartheid in?

[Doug B]

A "Benificial dictatorship" perhaps? This is one heck of a difficult topic, possibly we are looking at the problem from the wrong perspective? The only real solution,and it will not be quick, is education - personally I think that this was where the nats really lost the plot,keep the "masses" uneducated and the white man could continue to rule, I mean just look at the censorship that existed in this country,Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) had TV before we did,thus was the paranoia of the then rulers of this country. Really I think that the quicker peoples education levels are raised the less gullible they will be to idiots like Malema,etc....and then you have the tribal separations....read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and think about democracy for Africa..it would be a tragedy for this country to go this way but far from impossible.Democracy..really,is there any other feasible way-the type of education is another topic,right now,in the western world it grooms those "educated" to slip into the capitalist groove...do we REALLY need that latest BMW when the vehicle we possess is perfectly ok..mmmm...

[jasonpat]

Democracy is the best ruling the option in the world and most of the world countries are adopting it.