The problem with democracy

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all others that have been tried. But what about those that haven’t been tried? Is there even room for criticism of democracy itself in a democracy? Regardless of the answer, there’s no way of opting out of a democracy. You’re born into it, just like you’re born into any other system of civilization that’s currently running as the operative system of your nation. Should you happen to be born in the United States of America today, you would be born into a system that has elected a somewhat unusual leader. A leader that has been described as a poor man’s version of a rich man, a weak man’s version of a strong man and a stupid man’s version of a wise man. Many of those who describe him as such are still baffled by the fact that he got elected in a democratic election. What most fail to see is that he probably got elected because of the aforementioned traits rather than despite them. A poor man’s version of a rich man, a weak man’s version of a strong man and a stupid man’s version of a wise man is the perfect candidate in a democratic system because in a true democracy, poor, weak and stupid people have the same right to vote as everyone else.

Wherever you happen to be born and whatever your opinion about the system you happen to be born into, your options are always limited by whatever rules and regulations that happen to govern that particular geographic area at that particular time. Rules that very rarely have anything to do with whether a particular action is moral or not. All systems of governance that humanity has tried so far, including democracy, haven’t favoured truly moral behaviour in populations but rather behaviour that is well adapted to the very specific set of rules that they happen to be born into. This is all too often reflected in the jaw-droppingly un-sophisticated behaviour of our so called leaders. Behaviour found not only in the White House, but across the globe and across the political spectrum. One can’t help but thinking that the leaders of the world shouldn’t struggle with language or maths but few, if any, seem to master both. To be unfit for office seems to be a prerequisite for those that want to hold it. It’s a catch 22 and an unfortunate side effect of collaborations between human brains in general.

So what can you do about it? Sadly, not a lot on the macro scale. Your vote won’t matter. It’s that simple. What you can do is to ignore the cyclical nature of the specific system you happen to be born in and shift your attention towards things that actually do have an impact on your life and the lives of those around you. The internet is a dangerous place for the gullible but a fantastic resource for the curious mind. You can never opt out of the whole system but you can choose to ignore more and more aspects of it as the internet evolves. First of all you can stop listening to whatever propaganda-machines that are running on your nations media networks. You can cover your house in solar panels. Get off as many grids as you can. Last but not least you can start using Bitcoin, the only sound type of money this world has to offer. The amount of people you can transact with without hassle might still be very small, but usage is growing at a staggering rate. Transacting is also not the only way in which you can use it. One of the most mind-blowing features of Bitcoin is that every participant of the network has the power to increase its price by simply not using it and thereby limiting its supply. Hodling, as this behaviour is often referred to as, is using. The bigger the movement grows, the more useful it becomes and the more powerful a tool it becomes. It liberates the little man from the economic constraints of whatever governance-scheme he has fallen victim to. The earlier you get on this train, the more rewarded your courage will be and the more liberated you’ll become.

Your political opinions, let alone your opinions on democracy as a whole, will matter less and less in the coming decades. Free-thinkers, anarcho-capitalists and libertarians all around the globe have this new tool to shield themselves with from the whims of third parties. We will, finally, get to witness the power of a truly free market on a global scale. The transition period might be short or long, peaceful or violent, spectacular or almost invisible but make no mistake, change is coming. Pandora’s box has been opened and if the beast we found inside turns out to be Roko’s basilisk or not remains to be seen. Regardless, you should probably prepare yourself. Democracy’s days are counted.