Best description of Democracy yet

[SUBMAN1]

Found this while digging for something else. I keep hearing the opposite of this on this very board, so I thought I'd share this:

"Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity." -- Irving Kristol

-S

[Happy Times]

Found this while digging for something else. I keep hearing the opposite of this on this very board, so I thought I'd share this:

"Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity." -- Irving Kristol

-S

Sounds about right. :yep:

[P_Funk]

Obviously total equality of conditions is an absurd idea to expect in any functional society. However the play in definition comes when you ask what one needs for fair and equal opportunity.

Also further to that point there isn't JUST the matter of the promise of democracy but other functions of society, which some people attack as unneccesary or wrong. are seen as moral imperatives that go beyond democracy and straight into the philosophy of whats right. Such things as health care fall under this for me and many others. But they also fall under both.

Sadly no simple quote will sum any of this up.

[Letum]

Regarding Democracy:

If everyone voted for a "anti-equality of opportunity" governmental party then you could have a democracy with no equality of opportunity.

Democracy is no more than mob rule; rule over the few, by the many.
It is a good system.


Regarding Equal Opportunity:


It is impossible for any system to achieve equality of opportunity.
This is because opportunities refer to relatives. If everyone does what is needed to achieve a given point on the relative then the relative does not exist anymore.

[Skybird]

Kristol: that is about a hollow phrase only. Nice for academic debates, but serves no purpose beyond that.

To me, the larger the community, the lesser democracy can work, the easier it gets corrupted, the more the term gets abused, the faster it turns into a tyranny hidden under the label "democracy".

The intelligence and sense of responsebility of the individual is reverse-proportional to the size of the group/community in which it is embeddded.

[P_Funk]

Kristol: that is about a hollow phrase only. Nice for academic debates, but serves no purpose beyond that.

To me, the larger the community, the lesser democracy can work, the easier it gets corrupted, the more the term gets abused, the faster it turns into a tyranny hidden under the label "democracy".

The intelligence and sense of responsebility of the individual is reverse-proportional to the size of the group/community in which it is embeddded.
That sounds very much like the arguments that true anarchy is predicated on.

[Skybird]

Basing on a quick summary of "Anarchie" here:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchie ,

I fail to see your point, PFunk. I have often argued that unlimited tolerance leads to the rejection of any differences, by that making it impossible to define one's own identity, and what is not in conformity with this identy. That way you cannot define rules by which identiy and non-identy are kept separate, and cannot define the rules by which the first is to be protected. this absence of a basis to define rules leads into anarchy.

But above I mentioned a concealed form of tyranny, that pretends to be democratic. There is very much governing going on, but it is not democratically legitimated. How does that compare to an anarchy?

[Jimbuna]

Found this while digging for something else. I keep hearing the opposite of this on this very board, so I thought I'd share this:

"Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity." -- Irving Kristol

-S

Let the tennis match begin :lol:

[SUBMAN1]

Found this while digging for something else. I keep hearing the opposite of this on this very board, so I thought I'd share this:

"Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity." -- Irving Kristol

-S
Let the tennis match begin :lol:

I know! I've got my popcorn. http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/images/smilies/popcorn.gif How bout you?

[Jimbuna]

Found this while digging for something else. I keep hearing the opposite of this on this very board, so I thought I'd share this:

"Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity." -- Irving Kristol

-S
Let the tennis match begin :lol:

I know! I've got my popcorn. http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/images/smilies/popcorn.gif How bout you?

:()1: will suit me just fine :lol: