@ZoidbergForPresident @reay @ProPublica

so we better fucking vote

Voting (democracy) assumes that the average person is intelligent enough to make a sensible decision.

This assumption might be false, especially in countries with a sub standard education level, or countries flooded by disinformation.

This is how we got where we are now.

@FransVeldman @reay @ZoidbergForPresident @ProPublica

so what's the other options?

when you answer that question, i expect you to come back with full throated support for democracy

if you can't, you really haven't thought through the problem

a sick democracy needs to be healed, fixed. not abandoned

we can't question democracy itself, because the other options are far worse

@FransVeldman @reay @cpr320 @ZoidbergForPresident @ProPublica

but that's because we're drifting from democracy, it's not a feature of democracy

on the flip side, consider the quantity of dead being talked about in iran from recent events

It is a feature of democracy indeed, if you allow a majority of dumb people to vote. Anything can happen. It just proves my point.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the US isn’t going to surpass Iran in the number of victims at some point. At the moment the only difference between the US and Iran is the number of victims. Both claim that protestors are terrorists and both use excessive violence.

@FransVeldman @reay @cpr320 @ZoidbergForPresident @ProPublica

your comment doesn't mean anything unless you propose an alternative

you did do that with your long comment but how are these supposedly intellectually superior chosen?

what you're proposing can be gamed to exclude people who aren't good at taking tests for example, but are quite smart, just in other ways

there are also plenty of extremely smart people who are fucking batshit insane, amongst the worst of the bigoted plutocrats

How do we choose who can be a pilot? How do we choose who can become a surgeon? How do we choose who can become a judge?

But hey, let the planet be governed by just any idiot who can misled enough morons to vote for him.

@FransVeldman @reay @cpr320 @ZoidbergForPresident @ProPublica

i agree for example the Fed Chair can't be some coke snorting corrupt stooge. Or the head of the CDC can't be a fucking human skin suit piloted by a brain worm like RFK Jr. There should be rules about who gets appointed according to classification of experience trust and credibility (not "intelligence", because that's a wonky playground)

But that doesn't have to anything to do with elected leaders

We just need higher voter turnout

Yeah let’s just bring out more morons to vote. By definition, half of the population has an IQ of less than 100. They are supposed to understand important issues like climate change and choose responsible leaders accordingly. What can possibly go wrong?

If we can’t admit that the current form of democracy is failing miserably, we will never get out of this mess. More voters is not the answer.

Again, as a starter, it should not be possible to elect anyone without relevant education, with psychological treats that are incompatible with power, just as that you can’t elect someone to fly an airplane without the required licenses and approved psychological background.

@FransVeldman @reay @cpr320 @ZoidbergForPresident @benroyce @ProPublica Voters aren't supposed to understand all the important issues. They're supposed to have a decent-enough idea of which candidate represents their interests best. And indeed, they do. It's incredibly hard, not impossible (nothing is ever impossible), but incredibly hard, to convince over half the population that their interests are something other than what they actually are.

Moreover, intelligent people aren't any less susceptible to manipulation than unintelligent people. Reducing the number of voters only reduces the number of people propagandists have to deceive to put bad people in power. Making it so that only "smart" people can vote makes that easier, not harder.

The current form of democracy is failing miserably not because stupid people are allowed to vote, but because the state is still a weapon of class warfare wielded by the bourgeoisie. No matter what the general population tries to use the state for, no change can actually be made unless the bourgeoisie allows it. Look at what ICE is doing now. The capitalists running the show demanded an unaccountable terrorist paramilitary, so they got it, and no amount of court orders or pointing at the constitution can save any significant amount of their victims.

The solution is to abolish the class dictatorship. To make it so that people with money and property can't unilaterally impose their will on us. Exactly how we do that, I admit I don't know. But that's the solution.