I don't know why people think direct democracy is at all good. What evidence is there that the majority know what's best for them?

@drymer The nations with the best standards of living in terms of economics would be Scandinavian ones. But why would you think having only educated empathetic people voting wouldn't produce the same ones?

@BRUUH In theory "having only educated empathetic people voting" sounds good enough. But in PRACTICE, how do you assess whether someone is "empathetic" enough? How do you test and confirm such requirement? How do you ensure that these "educated empathetic people" care about all members of society and not JUST about their own class, ethnic group, etc, in detriment of others...? You can't. Thus, you give everyone with reasonable maturity the right to vote. If the great majority of people are unselfish and truly care about the common good (which I believe to be the case), then they'll override the selfish, dishonest, elitist minority.

@drymer The same way you psychologically evaluate everyone? Do you know how many processes take a long ass time and require a shit ton of shit? Of course we can bro.. it's also easy to measure for empathy. Brain scans my dude. Plus, even if you are right on this fine point, and I am wrong, it doesn't prove that i'm wrong about my greater point; it just means i'm getting too far ahead of myself with the requirements.

@BRUUH Brain scans to assess someone's civic worth? Sounds like something the Chinese government would do...

@drymer Yes, it does sound authoritarian, I know. But why is that bad? Why are freedoms good on their face? China is literally better off than us. China has more control of the world. The chinese population has secured a future for their people and culture. The west hasn't. I don't reccomend we have a united stated version of the CPC in control of all of us, but I by no means think china isn't making the world a better place for chinese people. They are literally dominating shit behind the scenes in ways few know about.

@drymer I'm not suggesting that I only want educated people voting. Plenty of rich educated cocksuckers only vote cause they want a tax break. That's why I want both empathetic AND educated people. People who understand and care.

@BRUUH are you joking. The chinese are all brainwashed and probably mostly like manufacturing slaves to put china in such good financial standing

@BRUUH
Scandinavia, particularly my adopted home of Norway, is the way it is because solidarity is still a live concept and large differences in income and well being are regarded as undesirable and a sign of poor governance. We really are "all in this together" as David Cameron famously said. In the UK that was simply risible, here in Norway it is broadly accepted as true and desirable. Cooperation is built in, competition is for sporting events.

The question is how does one create such a social atmosphere. Restricting voting to a few people who pass some kind of test isn't going to do it.

Don't misunderstand me, Norway is not a utopia and plenty of things don't work as well as they should.