zlacker

>>gruseo+(OP)
I think we have seen for ourselves how dangerous democracies can be when mixed with fears.

Alas, people will continue to argues that democracy is the best form of government despite its various flaws.

>>kiba+R6
I used to believe, fervently and automatically, that democracy was the best system. Can you blame me? No-one in my society opposes democracy. No-one sane anyway.

In the last couple of years, I've encountered well-reasoned opposing views for the first time.

Let's back up, and consider how to get an effective x, where x is a cup of coffee or a laptop or anything else. One way might be to get everyone to vote on what kind of x they like, and then give that to everyone. This is of course a terrible system, and not Starbucks nor Apple have that kind of system.

Much better to have competition. I'd be terrible at making coffee or a laptop, and it's best that I'm not trusted to make those things, or to choose who would be good at making them. Nor ought I to be trusted with running a country or choosing who to run it.

So, I think an ideal world might be a world of many smaller governments, each competing for consumers/citizens. Apply the creativity and efficiency of startups to the governing industry. I want a world of Singapores and Hong Kongs and Liechtensteins, where I can pick my government provider approximately the same way I pick my ISP or my employer.

Of course there are problems. So solve them! What better decrepit, corrupt, monopolizing old industry to fix than the governing industry? A Peter Thiel-funded startup is trying (http://seasteading.org).

See also Arnold Kling on competitive government vs. democracy: http://smartdemocracy.com/papers/kling_competitive_governmen...

And also see the reading list at the Let A Thousand Nations Bloom blog: http://athousandnations.com/recommended/

>>michae+7g
The only problem is that you ignore the nature of men and his history. Nation states are a relatively new thing. People used to live in city states, principataes, and that sort of thing, but then you get Persia for example who wants more and more territory and to rule everyone, then you get Rome, Alexander of Macedonia, Islamists in 600s, etc.

I think we all want to be one world with no border without any government whatsoever. It is unfortunate however that a government is needed.

Personally, I favour Aristocracy combined with some form of accountability to the people. Thus a combination of Aristocracy and democracy.