democracy?

first off, the latest national treasure movie was awesome. Sure, it's got gaping plot holes, glaring historical innacuracies, and cheesy lines, but so does indiana jones...now, Indy could kick gate's ass up and down the court, but that just makes it less good, not bad.

"Competence" is something human beings are almost universally bad at judging. when flashed pictures, people will ascribe intelligence and "emotional depth", at the drop of a hat, to skinnier, darker-eyed, slightly-foreign looking younger men, and persist in believing it against all odds. I'm fairly certain a system where true competence is measured, and power is allocated appropriately, is absolutely impossible...especially since there are many VERY competent and popular people who will abuse they power they're given.

this is precisely why many ancient cultures frown on democracy: it's nothing more than mob rule, you see. Far better (in their eyes) to allocate rule to a divinely appointed monarch or (better yet) someone who has the proven wisdom, education, and spirit to rule...of course, the "common folk" would never approve of such a brilliant ruler (they being mindless sheep, of course), but since when has their opinion counted for much.

American Democracy has flourished in this age precisely because the majority does not have limitless power, and we operate under the premise that the average human being is a competent decision-maker. Granted: this produces a system where candidates are chosen by their looks and charisma, but this (in my mind), is far better than when candidates are chosen by their birthright or some system where the majority is viewed only as a dull-minded, backwards, reactionary mass.

When you look back on history, you realize that every system is a democracy at the end of the day, the majority always get their way: they're either mislead into believing the ruler, they approve of what he does, or they violently depose him. Democracy is a nice shortcut because it eliminates a lot of the middlemen: the crap still rises to the top, but WE pick the crap, at the end of the day, people feel better, things can still get done, and there's much less bloody revolution