Dallan Arethi
Gallente
Phoenix Wing
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Posted - 2006.12.15 18:37:00 -
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Edited by: Dallan Arethi on 15/12/2006 18:42:58
I hesitated to involve myself in this debate, since it will go nowhere (come on, you all know it), but I simply had to correct some misconceptions on the part of Mr. Thumb, which I will charitably attribute to the culture he is familiar with.
 Originally by: Spoon Thumb
Has anyone ever heard of a Democratic business?
NO! Because they all fail. So why let your biggest institutions and arguably the biggest and most important business, that of running the empire (or Federation as you call it) be done in this clearly flawed manner?
On the contrary: while businesses tend, yes, towards the dictatorial in their operations (like any government this size, democratic or not), when ownership is widely held (as is common in the Federation and, to a lesser extent, in the State), shareholders often vote, either in their own voices or by choosing proxies, to choose the CEO or the Board of Directors, who then exercise fiat power over the state.
The concept is the same, if more limited in scope than an interstellar government: those who have a stake in a thing deserve a voice, however individually small, in how that thing is run: even if only by choosing who runs the thing. We simply believe that stake is more widely held than you or the Caldari do when it comes to the government.
As for your comments on the media, they go wrong in two places.
Firstly, the media are accountable to their viewers and their competition, like any corporation is. Where there is more than one source of information (the Scope hardly has a monopoly on reporting in Gallente space, let alone in the cluster, despite its prominence), and one is blatantly wrong on a regular basis, the others gleefully point it out like a pack of starving wolves, and the false herald suffers for it by a loss of trust on the part of the viewers, and corresponding loss of market share.
Secondly, while I won't comment directly on the succession process for Amarr Holders and Emperors (since any problems and...irregularities involved could simply be taken as evidence of God's will, and arguing over the existence of God is a waste of time and breath, take note, Mr. Ixiris), if anyone believes that people rise to positions of power in large groups through simple merit to exercise that power, they're fooling themselves. Those who seek power will often do anything in its pursuit, and anything to maintain it. Democracy exists in an effort to put the best possible curb on those desires in the arena where it's most important to do so: ruling and keeping order among trillions of people.
It isn't a perfect method, but it's the best I've seen arise from the minds of we humans, who are notably imperfect in our own right.
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