Convince me of your political philosophy.

[InevitableCheese]

I'm about to move out of this religious philosophy shit, and move into politics. Surely it will hurt my head less.

Before I start my readings, tell me what you guys think the best political system is!

My personal opinion before reading: My mind heads towards socialism and Marxism, but I believe capitalism has been the most successful. Democracy gives great freedoms, but as Churchill said "The strongest argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter."

I live in America, and these people are fucking stupid. I'm sorry if my country pisses you guys off sometimes. If I had things my way, I'd be born in Britain.

[Minimalist]

Yep.

[Captain Colostomy]

I lean left. The inner ear imbalance doesn't help.

[pocaracas]

The best political system is a theocracy!
It not only controls public affairs, but also your private affairs.... even if no controlling agent is present, it manages to make you think there is such an agent and keeps you in your best behavior.
Now we need a proper theology for that system to work adequately and forever.
Clearly, the muslim theology is crap, for it trumps the lives of half the population... women.
I have no knowledge of any christian theocracy, but I doubt it would work... if mormonism is any hint of it...

A hindu theocracy?... I don't know...
Buddhist?

Something else? Scientology?



Now, if we wanted to keep within the realm of reality, keep people relatively happy and free to be themselves... within reasonable... thus far, western style democracies, seem to fare quite well. And, if we want to find the most promising, perhaps, look into northern european ones, like Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway... What do these countries have in common? lack of sunlight, leading to a ... or rather, not leading to a leisurely state of mind and "work", so they actually work, or get drunk... or both.

My political philosophy, at the voting booth, is choose the least bad... politicians around here are all crooked...so I try to pick the ones that have stolen the least... I always pick the losers, though...

[Kayenneh]

In my utopia, there would be one leader that had to listen to the opinions of the people, but could make decisions on his/her own, regardless of public opinion. The leader would be elected by voting (one vote per adult citizen) and he/she would stay in office for four years. All who wish to be a candidate would have to go through extensive testing to show their mental prowess and that they're fit to make decisions for a whole nation. I think this would help circumnavigate useless debate and bureaucracy and make it possible to change faster than the current system offers. I would like to have something akin to a government to make sure that the leader doesn't abuse his/her power and help in executing decisions. On top of that, I wish that the governing bodies would rather than illegalize things they don't want their citizens to partake in, approach the matter of endorsing the things they wish the citizens would take into consideration. E.g. tax potentially harmful foodstuffs and stimulants and make fresh greens really cheap.

[Aractus]

My personal opinion before reading: My mind heads towards socialism and Marxism, but I believe capitalism has been the most successful. Democracy gives great freedoms, but as Churchill said "The strongest argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter."

I live in America, and these people are fucking stupid. I'm sorry if my country pisses you guys off sometimes. If I had things my way, I'd be born in Britain.

Okay, I live in one of the most capitalistic countries in the world, and I'll start with Health and why we are better than the USA, AND the UK. We have a pharmaceutical benefits scheme - of course so does USA and UK, but we also have specialized pharmacies, and the vast majority of pharmaceuticals cannot be sold outside of them. In the USA, the taxpayer wastes far more millions of dollars buying products that the patients do not need because the patients can't get decent advice in the "drug store" as to "hey do I need to take this for my condition?" We still have wastage, and wastage is unavoidable, however we have a system that minimizes it, especially as we're talking about taxpayer money being spent on wasted products (ie, drugs that the patient doesn't need).

In the UK, all doctors are paid the same salary, and you do not get a choice what doctor you see. Also, you don't pay to see your GP. Basically they believe all GP's are exactly equal. Well I know of a number of GP's in CANBERRA, here, where I live, who have been well known to over-prescribe drugs. You get a choice what lawyer you hire, you get a choice what car you buy, you get a choice what house you live in, rent or buy.

That's capitalism and capitalism works with market competition - competition drives the competing parties to provide better products or services. Doctor's are not perfect, no person is perfect. I have a friend who is a GP and he has said to me, when asked, that he does worry that some patients are abusing drugs (ie prescription drugs). He is effectively admitting that not every decision that he makes in his 10-minute consultations is in the best interests of his patients. He's not malicious, he doesn't mean anyone any harm, but he knows as I know, and all of us know that there are limits because we're all only human.

[LastPoet]

Government is evil! [/koolay]

Sorry, couldn't resist

[Creed of Heresy]

Progressive social-democracy libertarianism.

Government should work for the people first, to provide services to foster a healthy nation; economically, ecologically, scientifically. Education, health-care, infrastructure. No more fucking tax breaks to big ass corporations and the richest for trickle-down economics. Let the failing companies just fucking fail. Fuck the god-damn federal reserve. Stop telling Americans what they can and cannot do with their personal lives if they aren't doing things that harm or interfere with the rights of others [let them partake drugs]. Properly and efficiently regulate businesses for consumer protection and employee matters. Foster, encourage, and protect social and cultural progression.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

Every political philosophy is utopian to a degree. They all (well, the ones that are serious) describe a world that would work to 100% efficiency should the philosophy come to fruition in its entirety (without issue or error). It's also worth nothing that we would only exist in a utopia if we didn't realise that we were in a utopia. But I would argue that's more or less impossible as there's always someone bitchin'.

As for me, pragmatist, egalitarian, secularist.

I think all 3 stand on their own merits.

A reflexive, non-structured approach to policy that is context dependent and has the long term interest of a population as its heart above and beyond what something would give in short term gains. In effect, it's unpopular becuase it might result in a lot of people losing out in the short term. This is a distinct division from the pragmatism employed by capital free-market advocates who want the free-market to dominate every aspect of society (eg - Kool-aid). Mine is more about social responsibility and working towards future goals by recognising that society changes, and so should the structures that govern it.

Egalitarianism for me was fostered at school when I read this excellent book by Brian Barry:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Culture-Equality...0745622283

A splendid book by a spledid academic who gives excellent reasons as to why equality should be an en masse endevour and not at the expense of the right of others (his argument is a specific attack on multicultral norms is legislation).

Secularism because it is the only true, tried, and tested method for ensuring fairness and equality of all peoples in the decision making sphere of politics and executive government. There may be better ways, and it might not be perfect, but not a single alternative has come close to fostering the sense of togetherness and eliminating the divisions of social and international society than secularism.

In tandem with the above, I'm also a disestablishmentarianist. The Church should have no role to play in the affairs of state, even if they are just ceremonial (I'm English).

In response to the OP about: being born in Britain.

We've got our own issues here too. The % of people who vote is so low, more people in one year actually voted on a TV reality show called Big Brother than the general election. There's a lot of apathy towards politics here, because people have become ignorant to the way politics works, and importantly, how it works. I think this retardation in people's perception of political systems is down, in part, to distinctly mediocre politicians who convey a mediocre form of politics. Democratic Politics, as I understand it, should be about the people seeking to govern the people, with MPs/politicans being drawn from those with experience, intellect, and a sense of empathy towards their fellow citizens (I'm an idealist, I know).

What we have in the UK is an executive dominated by a cartel of élite SPADS (special advisors) who have climbed the ranks in political parties after graduating from University by being errand boys and advisors to other MPs, and then being chosen by those people to stand for the party.

People here are generally quite ignorant to politics, and the people they elect.

[Kayenneh]

Mine is more about social responsibility and working towards future goals by recognising that society changes, and so should the structures that govern it.

Kudos for this!