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Re the franchise, I think you’re half right. The problem isn’t women voting, it’s the voting. It’s a terrible way to make decisions in almost every situation because it turns every contest into a popularity contest. More political power rests in the PR and image creation teams than in any policy think tank. In fact if you want real power, it’s more important to project a popular image than to waste time learning how to govern, or studying issues. Any policy you have is about applause lines, it doesn’t have to work or make sense, but it better sound good when you say it on TV.
Empathy, and in fact most emotions run things because they’re easy to manipulate. Emotions are fairly easy to tap into and tend to short circuit any sort of logical, fact-based discussion of issues. But no long-term good decisions can be made when the path forward it to appeal to empathy, fear, or anger. You cannot empathically force drug users into treatment— the emotion makes you want to help, but it also means that solutions whether they work or not that sound mean won’t be available choices. You can’t kick disruptive kids out of class — it’s mean. But then nobody gets an education. You can do the same with fear. Guns are scary. Banning them seems to work. But it also means that you’re dependent upon the cops who might take a while to get there or do something.
Democratic systems have other flaws. They tend to select the worst candidates most of the time. Watch any election in your country and ask whether — given their resume and command of the issues and so on — you’d hire them for an important project. Nobody would hire Joe Biden, or Trump or Bernie or MTG or AOC to do anything important. But these are exactly the kinds of “leaders” we produce. They do well in focus groups, they dress the part, and that’s how we distribute power. They are beset by short term thinking. Solving a problem like homelessness will take decades. Putting a man on Mars, again decades. Fixing and modernizing schools, again, probably decades. But our elections are every two years— this is an extremely short window in which to “show progress”. Worse, the painful part — the taxes, the road cones, the traffic jams — all show up long before any of the benefits can be realized.
Is this because of the voting, or because of the options? Who exactly is out there ready to lead America to a new age of beauty and success but is prevented from rising to the top because of voting? If we had a Caesar or a Churchill waiting in the wings, do you really think they couldn't win an election? Against either of the geriatrics? Frankly, they're just not that good then.
The reality is our best and brightest don't try to become president because the president just isn't that important. The systems we've constructed as a society have many levers to control them, but they are very spread out. The president has less power over what type of buildings get built than whoever puts together the International Building Code, less power over environmental standards than the employees of the EPA, less power over the financial industry than the leaders of international financial institutions etc. If you want to make a big difference, becoming a top dog Democrat and trying to become president seems like a middling choice compared to going and starting a lobbying organization or something. At best you get to fight the system in the attempt to do things nominally in your power (RIP Trump), at worst you lose your goals in the process of getting there (RIP Obama) or have your staff run around you to continue business as usual (RIP Biden). There are many, many players at the top, and any single defector from the general direction of the herd gets thrown down pretty hard from what I've seen. There is no publicly visible #1 role, and probably just isn't a #1 person at all. That's what oligarchy is all about I suppose, and it seems to me we're already there.
Monarchy/autocracy seems like the solution to some people, but it's really just a roundabout way of achieving what we really need: the ability of society's best people to be in positions of power where they're able to say ''No, fuck you, this is how it's gonna work," and to be able to say it not just to the plebs, but to the rest of the elite.
I want the president of Harvard to be able to say "No, we aren't about inclusion, our whole purpose is to be exclusive so the best people can all hang out," and act on it, without losing his position. I want the President to be able to say "Yeah, we're building nuclear power plants everywhere, including your back yard. You're scared? Too bad. They're statistically optimal." Currently, those are just impossible. They'd be ripped apart by their own class, no matter how right they are. Of course, this level of power is ripe for corruption and may cause collateral damage. That's why great leaders are so important. Of course, no one believes we have great leaders at the moment, and so neither side wants anyone having those kinds of power. Why?
I think we as a society have just largely lost the ability to make great people. Outside of very narrow groups, parenting is mostly terrible, education ranges from mediocre to actively harmful, and nearly all societal systems work very hard to prevent people doing anything unusual or experiential enough to grow into a top-tier individual. No one has values, let alone a set we can all agree upon, and the idea of virtue is largely ignored. The best we've got are turbo autists blessed with immense intellect who are never taught the wisdom to use it well, and very boring run-of-the-mill groomed elite. The latter enforces the status quo, the former lacks the understanding required to shatter it.
How do you think parenting should be improved, and what are the values that you want society to agree upon?
Not all problems necessarily have practicable solutions, but I'll do my best.
Parenting: rebuilding intergenerational wisdom after a gap occurs is difficult, and the reality is traditional parenting is difficult to work in the modern world.
Additionally, the average parent just isn't that good at navigating the modern world in their own right. However, children need role models, guidance, and all that, and frankly the state should be able to provide at least some of that. State sponsored tutors, a restructuring of the school system, and similar things could help, or even just state funding for third-places with productive activities would be good.
Values: Mine obviously, but I'm not so unreasonable as to think that's a solution. I see it as [my values > your values > no values > my values inversed]. Most value systems I've encountered are broadly good, with some rough edges. What isn't good is a valueless society drowning in ennui. Obviously some values will prove to be maladaptive, but those inherently end up being uprooted one way or another.
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