A4E Posted May 20, 2015 Posted May 20, 2015 In my country people will praise democracy, and use it as an argument to defend that a minority will always have the right to force everyone else to distribute their money and make laws that they dont have to follow themselves. Because in those people's words we the people decide who will have all this power, so then its ok, and you have no right to complain if you dont vote. I am pretty good at making examples, so I was trying to come up with a theoretical example that would dig up the emotions of people and make it impossible for them to not understand. -Every 4 years we will vote for one travel agency. The different travel agencies can say and promise whatever they want to the people. They could say anything about the vacations they provide, because there will be no consequences to their statements before the election if they win. The travel agency that is elected will forcefully take money from everyone every year, according to your income. Some will have to pay more, others less. Then the travel agency will buy the same vacation for everyone. Same location, same duration, The same way of transport if at all possible. Only time slot would be different. If you can not go on vacation in that time slot, or you dont want to go to that location, or you dont like the mode of transport, or you don't want to go on vacation at all, then that does not matter. You can choose not to go, but you still have to pay your share. Also you are not allowed to change your vacation at the destination, or supplement it with any additional field trips or anything that was not allocated to you by the travel agency. Forinstance you cannot spend extra money to improve your accomodation or the type of transportation at the destination. If a minibus is used for an excursion, then you cannot hire a taxi for the same excursion. If the vacation was not provided to you adequately. If there was something wrong with the mode of transport, or food and shelter at destination, then you can fill out some applications to be provided the same vacation again, until it is delivered adequately. But you will never get your money back. Usually when a new travel agency has been elected, it is unable to significantly change the type of vacation for people in the following year, or years, but they have some good excuses for this, which is that they just need more time, and that the previous travel agency is largely to blame because of the way they handled things. After the fact, if you did not vote for a travel agency, then you have no right to complain. It is we the people who have voted for this travel agency, so it is ok. And it is the best system for people to have vacations that we have come up with. If you dont like the way vacations are provided, then you can always vote for a new travel agency after 4 years. What do you think? 1
square4 Posted May 20, 2015 Posted May 20, 2015 I think it is a good example, and it could help to open people's eyes. But what you can expect, is an answer like this: "Vacations are a private good, and we have a place for a free market in vacations (with some regulation of course), but the government provides "public" goods. These are services from which non-payers cannot easily be excluded (free-rider problem), such as roads and national "defense". Also, there are goods that are so critical to our well-being, such as health care, that we cannot leave that in the hands of profit-driven companies. But with regard to vacations, we totally agree with you." 1
Laforge Posted May 20, 2015 Posted May 20, 2015 Hey good example! I've struggled with the democracy argument quite a bit myself. Until i finally got round to listening to Stefan's (audio)book Everyday Anarchy. The arguments against democracy found there can only be described as über. This is an okay place to start from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfAbYlFqut4 Ůber: https://freedomainradio.com/free/ 1
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