Bocker and democracy

[[deleted user]]

"...democracy, where every fool's vote is worth the same as a wise man's" - Alistair Bocker.

Is this a valid point, just too cynical for words or does it really boil down to who you think is wise and who a fool?

Any thoughts?

[John]

Too difficult - all in the contemporary context. A fool this week / month / year can be a sage next week / month / year.

BUT, if ignoring the contemporary context issue, then I agree - a vote cast with no thought except that 'I like that dress' is of the same value as a vote cast after reviewing every utterance and published statement of a candidate. One vote is informed of how that candidate may affect you and your society, the other believes the candidate knows a good shop!

Only balance is that the larger the voting population, one hopes that the considered vote outweighs the ill-considered vote. Forlorn hope in most affluent western democracies. But that is just me being cynical.

[[deleted user]]

The point about the size of the electorate was made by Rousseau but I thought when I read it that he was being over-sanguine to say the least.

I confess that I have always favoured Bierce's definition of a cynic: "a blackguard whose faulty vision sees the world as it is not as it ought to be." I think Wyndham had a clarity of vision that will always endear him to the self-styled cynic.