Representative democracy.

Quote from: ElectroKittyDecisive leadership, eh? What if the decision is the wrong one? You'd be ok with that, provided a decisive decision was made? I hope the decider doesn't decide to decide something that screws you over.

Lets look at a realistic situation like, say, Home Information Packs. You know, instead of bringing up hypothetical situations where the Tories introduce camps for those earning less than 12k a year.

Labour "We will revolutionise house selling by making the homeowner get all the relevant paperwork up together first."

Mortgage companies "We're not accepting other peoples surveys"

Labour "We will revolutionise house selling by making the homeowner get all the relevant paperwork up together first, except surveys"

Other politicians "This is all a bit slapdash.  We're not happy having any part of this."

Labour "We will not revolutionise house selling by making the homeowner get all the relevant paperwork up together first."

People who'd trained to be HIPS inspectors "So the last 18 months, hard work and money spent has been wasted then."

Labour "We will revolutionise house selling by making the homeowner of 4 bed detatched properties that cost X amount get all the relevant paperwork up together first, except surveys"

Whereas they could have told the mortgage companies that they'd have to accept the surveys and not constantly capitulated themselves into a corner.

So I don't expect any government to do everything (or indeed anything) the way I'd like, but if they're going to "lead" then I expect them to do so.  Not flail around, trying to look important and effective whilst performing u-turn after u-turn in an effort to remain popular.

What kind of "-archy" is rule by and through guilds again?

Rationality...but it may just be a myth...

Quote from: SosthenesWhat kind of "-archy" is rule by and through guilds again?

The brand of anarchy known as anarcho-syndicalism, perhaps? What was instituted in Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War, with the economy determined by trade unions in control of their respective trades and governed democratically from the bottom up.

My answer would (unsurprisingly) be anarchy, manifested in grassroots direct democracy on the local level and something like the aforementioned syndicalism in the economic sphere. It might make huge nation-states and empires impossible, but who need 'em, anyway?

At the very least, the economy must be democratized, or else political democracy is meaningless.

From So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams:
 
[An extraterrestrial robot and spaceship has just landed on earth. The robot steps out of the spaceship...]
 
"I come in peace," it said, adding after a long moment of further grinding, "take me to your Lizard."
 
Ford Prefect, of course, had an explanation for this, as he sat with Arthur and watched the nonstop frenetic news reports on television, none of which had anything to say other than to record that the thing had done this amount of damage which was valued at that amount of billions of pounds and had killed this totally other number of people, and then say it again, because the robot was doing nothing more than standing there, swaying very slightly, and emitting short incomprehensible error messages.
 
"It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see..."
 
"You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?"
 
"No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like to straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
 
"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."
 
"I did," said ford. "It is."
 
"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't the people get rid of the lizards?"
 
"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."
 
"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"
 
"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."
 
"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"
 
"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?"
 
"What?"
 
"I said," said Ford, with an increasing air of urgency creeping into his voice, "have you got any gin?"
 
"I'll look. Tell me about the lizards."
 
Ford shrugged again.
 
"Some people say that the lizards are the best thing that ever happened to them," he said. "They're completely wrong of course, completely and utterly wrong, but someone's got to say it."

Quote from: Black FlagThe brand of anarchy known as anarcho-syndicalism, perhaps? What was instituted in Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War, with the economy determined by trade unions in control of their respective trades and governed democratically from the bottom up.

My answer would (unsurprisingly) be anarchy, manifested in grassroots direct democracy on the local level and something like the aforementioned syndicalism in the economic sphere. It might make huge nation-states and empires impossible, but who need 'em, anyway?

At the very least, the economy must be democratized, or else political democracy is meaningless.

So long as you have a hierarchical organisation of the means of production, you'll always have a hierarchical society. Democratising production is a step, but it just leads us to social democracy, not any further. What we need are new modes of production that will render the individual and small group as productive as any capitalist organisation. Even things like Mondragon are still hierarchies with a coercive potential.

Without using multi-syllabic words just to prove that books are near my computer :

 I prefer some form of representative Democracy

 -OR-

Democratic Republic.

 ...or some blend of the two.

- Ed C.

Quote from: KoltarWithout using multi-syllabic words just to prove that books are near my computer :

 I prefer some form of representative Democracy

 -OR-

Democratic Republic.

 ...or some blend of the two.

- Ed C.

What would you characterize as the key difference between a representative democracy and a democratic republic, and how would you blend them?

Quote from: KoltarWithout using multi-syllabic words just to prove that books are near my computer :

- Ed C.

Whatever, smart ass. :what:

Thantos...is that you, coming to the defense of Black Flag?  I find that difficult to believe... :haw:

Quote from: James J SkachThantos...is that you, coming to the defense of Black Flag?  I find that difficult to believe... :haw:

Nah, that's me getting a little tired of anti-intellectualism. I know Koltar is just trying to shoot straight, but he's hitting the crowd. Plus, he's got to realize that all of the stated governments are multi-syllabic.

If he wants to take a swipe at what he considers an over-intellectualism of the conversation, he could at least be on target with his jabs.

Sorry crowd.
Didn't mean to catch any of you in a grazing shot.

 Its not anti-intellectual on my part.

 I just hate the overuse of big words when you don't really need to.
 Always looks like someone is trying to prove something.

 Heck, I've slept with intellectuals - they still scream God's name in the middle of an orgasm just like everybody else.


- Ed C.

I voted for collective, because it seemed like a good idea at the time?

Quote from: BrantaiI voted for collective, because it seemed like a good idea at the time?

How many others voted collective, citizen?