Head-2-Head Kamikaze Debate: Is Democracy Really The Best Form Of Government?, page 1

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Subject

"Democracy Is The Best Form Of Government"

Participants

Pro - enjoies05
Con - whatukno

Guidelines

1. Each member will post an opening statement, two rebuttals, and one closing statement.

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Thanks.

I would like to begin by thanking chissler, and the ATS staff for allowing this debate. As this being a Kamikaze Debate going into this debate will present an excellent challenge I also would like to thank my opponent enjoies05 and I am sure this will be a great discussion for the both of us.

Now without further ado…

Democracy, it has been touted as the highest, most benevolent form of government known to man. But is it really the best form of government available? America when it was first formed as the grand experiment, ushered into existence a new idea based on the freedoms of the individual and the checks and balances of the branches of government.

However now we see that this system itself has its flaws. Over the last two centuries this republic has changed from its benevolent system for individual freedom to a near tyrannical oppressive regime. The individual has lost touch with their representatives; they fear the power that the federal government holds over them. The main currency is not printed and issued by the government itself but through the Federal Reserve. Our own constitution is circumvented routinely and maliciously to further the goals of individuals in power with no oversight by the people that elect these individuals. I will show that throughout history governments of this type naturally evolve into a dictatorship leaving the once benign system to rot away in favor of a more malicious tyrannical form of government.

Our elected officials now are no longer realistic representatives of the people but the representatives of the social elite. The common man has little in common with these people having neither the social status, nor the financial independence of these people in power. Often times our letters to our representatives are ignored or responded with a form letter that has little or nothing to do with what issue we have addressed.

With the arrival of the Department of Homeland Security we have within our lifetime witnessed a disconnected branch of our government that has little or no accountability to the citizenry formed. This newly developed branch of government with no oversight by the citizenry works nearly outside of the laws our government has built and maintained.

In this debate I will put forth the following points:

1. Democracy is an unstable form of government that limits the involvement of the individual citizen, and represses the population giving them little opportunity to refute decisions made by lawmakers, even less of the presidency, and none for the judicial branch. Through its design it can never last as a true democracy and eventually and inevitably destabilize into an empirical monarchy.

2. The increasing powers of non elected officials within our government has eroded the ideals of democracy and taken the power away from the citizenry that our government was formed to serve. These individuals are not subject to the people that they serve and have powers that are not specifically laid out in the constitution. Without any power to oversee these rogue branches of government and unelected individuals the power of the people in a democracy becomes null and void and the government that was once sworn to protect and defend the rights of the individual ceases to do so and begins to assert its own agenda free from reprisal from the citizenry.

Originally posted by enjoies05
How is this Democracy's fault? Why would somebody fear a person they voted for?

I was actually referring to those that are in our government that we do not vote for. These people wield a great amount of power with little or no oversight. We as the citizens of this country do not have any authority over these individuals but they have a lot of leeway in our lives every day.

Limits the involvement? Every citizen who is a voter is involved with the elections - so every individual citizen has a part in determining who runs their government. With other types of governments the citizens have no say at all in who runs it. What other ways would you like the citizens to be involved?

When was the last time someone that was not a part of the elite class won a high office in this country? In our society only those that can afford to run for office are able to. Great leaders are out there but without the financial backing they are unable to run for office. Besides the fact that our votes only affect the Electoral College and those few people are the ones that actually cast the votes that elect our leaders. To site the [url=http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0876793.html]2000 presidential election[/url, when Gore won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote he lost the presidency. So tell me that you vote counts for anything in this country?

Laws can be changed if enough people want them to be, and if those people work together to get them changed.

Unfortunately in this society we usually are forced to bend to the will of special interest groups that have the funding to buy the congressional votes. These are the people that have the influence in this "democracy" not the individual voter.

So again, what other type of government is a better choice than Democracy?

I have given a list of all available forms of government in my opening statement. While democracy looks great on paper in practice it fails to live up to its expectations.

Corruption and greed often times derail a promising form of government and this is a prime example in democracy.

I was actually referring to those that are in our government that we do not vote for. These people wield a great amount of power with little or no oversight. We as the citizens of this country do not have any authority over these individuals but they have a lot of leeway in our lives every day.

.

Yes, but there are those kinds of people in almost every other form of government. There are leaders that have complete control over the public’s lives; they have complete control of who will lead when they pass away. They don’t just have a lot of leeway, they have it all. And there is nothing the public can do. Would you want that, or Democracy where no one has complete control?

When was the last time someone that was not a part of the elite class won a high office in this country?

Well looking through the biographies of a number of US. Presidents, a lot of them started out with nothing spectacular, and worked there way up. Being elected for small positions and working their way up, gaining followers. I’m sure the average person who is driven could work their way up as well.

Besides the fact that our votes only affect the Electoral College and those few people are the ones that actually cast the votes that elect our leaders.

Here it explains it. The elector votes for the person who got the most votes in the state. The common people’s votes decide who gets the States Electoral vote. So yes, our votes count.



You mentioned that Kritarchy was a better form of government. In this form no one has any power over the public. Courts of law and the police have no more power than citizens. A country needs people in power, not total power mind you, but some form of power over it’s citizens to keep order and control.

Another thing about Kritacrhy is based on Natural Law. Natural Law doesn’t exist. Man created laws, not nature. If humans did what nature intended there would be no laws, no fighting, just freedom and peace, but I don't think that will be happening soon.