How is this even democracy?

How exactly is our system of representative democracy even a democracy at all? Hiw is it the rule of the people if they only decide which people will rule them and not how these people should govern?

In germany people even take pride in "Abgeordnete sind nur ihrem Gewissen verpflichtet", which means representatives are only bound by their conscience. How are you even a "represantative" if you are explicitly told to only do what you personally want?

Look at germany Sup Forums. We elected a conservative party and they just decided mid-term that they are going to be leftists now.

How is this democracy?

>How is this democracy?
You realized the most basic problem with democracy. Congrats.

Give me a single alternative.

Democracy is only one step away from tyranny.

>they only decide which people will rule them

That's not how it works at all.

You elect the parliament, not the government.
The government governs.
The parliament checks the government.

direct.

decentralize as much shit as you can to the town / district level.
make representatives legally responsible to their electorate (recallable, imprisonable if necessary)


we now have the technological means to make an Athenian level of democracy work without slaves. Of course it's never gonna happen.

Well, you're supposed to call those people representing you and they are supposed act in their constituent best interest.
However, you don't have money to open their eyes to your needs so they just vote in the best interest of their wealthiest constituent.

Public referenda on important topics like in switzerland.

"Dictatorship" by someone who cares for the well being of the citizens and the greater good of society, who's bound by international law to not abuse his power and is elected by the people in a publicly spectatable vote counting process.

How are people going to vote on every piece of legislation?

It's not a democracy, it's a republic. Democracy is the ideal it represents.

Democracy is a joke! Did you not know that?
The old greek term for "Democacy" translates to "Mob Rule" The mob rules over you. (mob=Police,judges, politicans ect)

A big fucking joke on US.

congressmen don't vote on every piece of legislation

No one who knows anything about politics considers a republic anything but a form of democracy. all Republics are referred to as democracies.

Very dangerous, it's entirely possible that he changes his mind or he lies to get into his position.

Isn't that just supporting my point?

what about the rest?

Representative Democracy, or a Republic,is a measure to provide for the rule of the many while tempering a mobocracy. One of biggest misconceptions in the US (sorry I'm not familiar enough with German political systems) is that the Congress functions to pass laws when it is the exact opposite. It is designed to stop all bills from becoming laws except those necessary enough to survive the arduous process.

no, it's highlighting that everybody voting on every piece of legislation isn't a necessary thing.

well yeah but it's within the framework of a republic.

>No one who knows anything about politics considers a republic anything but a form of democracy. all Republics are referred to as democracies.
That's because everyone who knows anything about politics knows that actual democracies don't exist, have never existed (outside of isolated towns of 100 or less) and are extremely undesireable. So clearly OP doesn't know anything about politics and the observation is moot.

>The Athenians believed sortition to be more democratic than elections[4] and used complex procedures with purpose-built allotment machines (kleroteria) to avoid the corrupt practices used by oligarchs to buy their way into office. According to the author Mogens Herman Hansen the citizen's court was superior to the assembly because the allotted members swore an oath which ordinary citizens in the assembly did not and therefore the court could annul the decisions of the assembly. Both Aristotle[4] and Herodotus (one of the earliest writers on democracy) emphasize selection by lot as a test of democracy, "The rule of the people has the fairest name of all, equality (isonomia), and does none of the things that a monarch does. The lot determines offices, power is held accountable, and deliberation is conducted in public."[8]

It's oligarchy. The bourgeoisie just used the language of democracy to get into power, in the same way Jews used the language of communism to take over Russia.

don't let the medpacks hear you talk like that

What you're referring to is a direct democracy, there are other forms of democracy. If you're voting for representatives and leaders, you live in a democracy.

If you didn't live in a democracy, you wouldn't be allowed to vote on anything.

vote on the less complex and numerous local issues (periodical town meetings with heads of households acting as mayor between meetings, changing weekly, accountable of course).

let representatives vote but if they turn out to be corrupt the prosecute them. of course this leaves a margin of error when it's not obvious they are corrupt but even if only this was done it would improve the present situation a thousandfold.

increase the number of referenda, with internet access it should not be expensive at all.

a more hands and public approach to democracy and the passing of laws?

>Wanting a benevolent dictator

>Being a pendantic

Well in that case: democracy literally means "rule of the people". So a republic can easily be a democracy.

it's spelled pedantic

I like your ideas the best, internet voting sounds ripe for manipulation though

You're absolutely right. The irony.

>Direct Democracy

Do you have any idea how terrible that would be?

There's a whole spectrum of options between a massive federal government with everybody voting every measure and a massive federal government with almost nobody voting.

There's even a part of that spectrum that dips down into not-massive-federal government, and more local levels have more agency, where it's far more tenable.

a bad dictatorship is better than a good democracy.

How do you come to that conclusion. A bad dictatorship will plunge a nation into complete destruction far faster and more completely than a bad democracy and a good democracy would actually serve to improve the country.

democracies don't improve anything.

>democracies don't improve anything.
Here's your (you). I cannot think of any other response than this because I'm stunned by the apparent ignorance of the post.