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Comment by icedchocolate | Hacker News Reader

Honestly Brexit and Trump both tell me that democracy doesn't work, because the majority of the population is undereducated, bigoted, and has absolutely no idea about how to run an economy - it makes no sense for the working class who don't understand the most basic of economic concepts to influence how the economy is run.

I hope he doesn't screw America's economy by preventing skilled immigrants coming in and helping the tech industry, and by screwing up America's free trade deals. The return of protectionist & economically idiotic policy could truly screw the US.

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>because the majority of the population is undereducated, bigoted, and has absolutely no idea about how to run an economy

"I've called them racists, I've called them idiots... nothings working, why won't they vote like me"

You can't throw democracy out just because it didn't go your way.

>People don't vote how you want DEMOCRACY DOESN'T WORK

nice job calling them bigoted and undereducated while you're at it

Well the whole reason that we have a representative democracy is that the average citizen has no idea how to run the country, so they elect more competent officials that represent their interests to do so. Obviously the flaw is that those same (on average) incompetent people are the ones who elect the leadership. But as far as I know we haven't come up with a better alternative. What do you propose then? A dictatorship? Authoritarian state?

Of course. The only downside of dictatorship is the transfer of power on the inevitable death of the dictator. Now that machines are rapidly approaching the point of being smart enough to rule humans, that downside will soon disappear.

Headlines from the future:

Machine god has off by one error - Several billions dead.

Please do not give Deepmind any funny ideas.

Typical.

You didn't get the expected result so you blame democracy. History is filled with countries abandoning democracy in favor of dictatorships.

It never works out.

Read this as "only allow people to vote who have the same opinion as me!". That's not how democracy works. You lost to the majority. Simple as that.

No one is really for democracy. Everyone wants a dictator who reflects their views.

Can you cite an example where a modern dictatorship substantially improved its subject's lives?

This kind of demeaning talk is what got us here. Most people are, by definition, of nearly average intelligence. And someone's intellect doesn't preclude them from the right to have a voice in how they are governed just because they disagree with you.

I voted for Clinton, so I'm just as disappointed as you are. Let's work to fix it, not further divide our already fractured country.

> Most people are, by definition, of nearly average intelligence

that's... optimistic. doesnt that also mean half the population is below average intelligence?

Yes, but on a bell curve the majority of the population is concentrated close to the average.

Singapore?

China? I'm not rushing to move there, but hundreds of millions are far better off today than in 1949.

Maybe the majority of the population is dealing with issues you are not aware of, hence you don't understand why they vote the way they do.

It looks like Clinton will win the popular vote, so at least part of the blame rests with quaint 18th century notions of "democracy" rather than with the electorate.

If the US was a modern, pluralist, parliamentary democracy, then Bernie Sanders, Trump, Clinton and some traditional GOP candidate may have all run at the same time. Trump would probably have never won -- or possibly, he would've not even tried, because his flavor of populism probably would've only gotten 15-20% in a multi-party system.

Calling the population undereducated while saying the dumbest shit imaginable. You're truly leading by example.

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