Monday, July 04, 2011
Independence Day
Churchill has a famous quotation: "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried." Lest we think that Churchill didn't really have disparaging thoughts about democracy, consider this statement attributed to him as well: "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
The history of philosophy is full of people trying to draw conclusions about the world that have as much certainty as the conclusions of geometry. ("Knowledge" and "science" used to have higher standards than they do now.) Unfortunately, these efforts were generally failures, not because philosophers lacked the conviction of geometers, but because their arguments were too ridiculous to persuade anybody but themselves.
I, however, have succeeded where others have failed. I present the following argument about how bad democracy is and claim that its conclusion is as airtight as any offered in geometry:
1. Democratic elections are significantly affected by the amount of money spent by the candidates. This point is accepted by all, I believe, even if there are disputes about the size of the effect. People wouldn't fight about campaign finance laws if they didn't think that money matters.
2. Campaign advertisements and other forms of solicitation are among the most banal forms of communication that human beings have invented. They are largely devoid of content and untrustworthy to the extent they do have content. This point is perhaps not accepted by all. If you don't believe this already, however, then I'm guessing you struggle with geometry too.
3. Democratic elections are significantly affected by communications that are largely devoid of content and untrustworthy. QED.
Let us celebrate our political independence, as Churchill was right that every other choice is worse. But let us also celebrate a certain independence from politics, which surely makes us all a little stupider than we would be otherwise. We have the Internet for daily evidence of that point, but I won't claim geometric certainty there.
Eddie 10:18 AM
