Political systems How to get a stable and responsive government
Many people think that a democratic system will produce a responsive system, as the elected government has to meet the wishes of the people. 

The evidence points to the contrary. 

What is the general outcome of democratic systems?

a) They produce an unstable government
b) The elected people make promises during the election but do not carry out the promises.
c) The elected people are beholden to the rich people who funded their election campaign.

Is there a better system?

Remember - the goal is to produce a stable and responsive government. 

I am in favor of a system where the leaders are elected democratically from a smaller group of qualified voters. These voters should be selected to represent the cross section of the people. 

When the United States became independent of Britain, the voters were the property owners. This was considered acceptable as they have the biggest state in the country, It is not a perfect system, as the interest of the workers and slaves were not adequately protected. 

Today, most democratic countries work on the basis of "one man one vote". All citizens are given the right to vote. However, the outcome of this system has been not satisfactory. The government in many countries have been dysfunctional. 

An alternative system is that practiced by the communist countries, such as China. The leaders are voted by members of the communist party. They represent the interest of the people in the country as a whole. 

Communist systems have failed in the past due to corruption and the economic sanctions imposed by the wealthy countries. But their failure is not universal. 

Some communist countries have produced a stable and responsive government that bring their people out of poverty. 

We should not automatically criticize a communist system as being "not democratic". Instead, we should see if it produces a government that is largely accepted by the people of the country. 

Perhaps a communist country can hold a referendum - should we continue our current system or change to a western style democracy? If they can carry out this exercise, it might legitimize their system. 

Tan Kin Lian 

Vote - should the goal be to produce a stable and responsive government?


 

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