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Somewhere in the last 250 years, freedom became synonymous with democracy. Before the United States, freedom was considered to be attained when you were under the rule of the (relatively autonomous) lordship of one of your countrymen or clan. Tyranny was to be ruled by an outsider, who may set up puppet members of your tribe but whose commands were dictated by the foreigner.
Because democracy became synonymous with freedom, democracy is seen as an end in and of itself. But this is incorrect. Democracy is a means to good governance: to prosperity, well-being, and good order. If democracy is not providing good governance, democracy is no longer a reasonable means. It is the height of hubris to think that democracy is the final state of government. The world has seen city states, empires, democracies, monarchies, dictatorships. Additional governance structures will evolve, some of which will almost certainly improve on democracy.
For myself, I desire freedom. I desire the ability to walk my clean streets in safety. I want my neighbors to look and act like me, to believe in similar things, to hope in similar things. I want my children to grow up around adults who will seek to instill similar morals and myths. I want to be led by someone who genuinely has my best interests in mind, and not simply simpering for my vote. I want to be free of the tyranny of the election cycle.
I desire freedom over democracy and realize they’re orthogonal, but in practice, I see no better system to guarantee everyone’s freedom.
How would you ensure the party in charge gives you clean streets and similar neighbors without accountability at least to yourself (e.g. by voting yourself)?
And of course everyone wants to be more free than others, so how would you ensure you’re on top? Personally, I’d do the usual: propose a system based on Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance which looks good enough to convince others but ensures I’m content. Most people are only convinced to join a system if they have some political influence, so to get enough support to put your system into power, usually it needs at least the illusion of democracy.
Case in point, my understanding is that most feudal lords abused their serfs. I’m sure it was better in small clans and pre-US American villages, but only because everyone knew each other, and more importantly an ordinary citizen could physically confront their leader(s), so they were still accountable.
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It's almost as if the cliche of conservatives being enamored extreme conformity is correct. I thought Stepford Wives and Invasion of the Body Snatchers were hyperbolic and insulting notions of what conservatives want. Maybe not?
I think most people would prefer clean streets and nice things versus whatever freedom means.
Isn’t that what Heaven is suppose to be? Ruled by a dictator but nice things?
A dictator who also occasionally sends people to Eternal Tortureland.
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