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Tag Archives: democracy

A Representative Democracy: It’s NOT All About You

13 Monday Sep 2021

Posted by Paul Kiser in Communication, Government, Politicians, Politics, Public Relations, Representative Democracy, Republic, United States

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democracy, Democrat, Dunning Kruger Effect, politicians, representative democracy, republic, Republican

“You Represent ME, Dammit!!!!”

One of the most misunderstood and abused aspects about elected officials is that it is her or his job to represent the individual. The deeper you dig into that concept, the more absurd it becomes. Even under minimal consideration, the idea is ridiculous. How can one person represent the individual needs, wants, and hopes of every citizen?

A Representative Democracy:  Senators of the 117th Congress

Simple Explanations Fail a Representative Democracy

A representative democracy, or a republic, is a very complex idea, formed over thousands of years. It allows individuals to have a say in his or her laws, rules, and policies, but it does not mean that every individual will be satisfied with the outcome.

However, many people think that politicians are to represent only their point of view. That explanation fails to describe the actual responsibilities of an elected official.

Unfortunately, those with limited education may prefer simpler explanations of complex concepts. News media and public relations professionals often ‘dumb down’ information to a sixth-grade reading level. If they don’t, that person may not stay engaged and fail to grasp the information.

However, a simple explanation may pacify a person’s need to know, but fail to adequately inform. This gives a false feeling that one understands the full scope of the problem or idea; however, this is not the case

The Dunning-Kruger Effect on a Citizen’s Competence

Understanding the role of an elected official based on a citizen’s knowledge of a representative democracy

In 1995, a man spread lemon juice on his face and robbed two banks, believing that the lemon juice would make his face invisible to security cameras. He knew that lemon juice could be used as invisible ink on paper and he was confident it would work the same on his face. This is an example of illusory superiority studied by David Dunning and Justin Kruger. Their work led to the theory of the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect indicates that a person’s confidence in understanding a concept or problem leaps upon learning a little information. Confidence typically drops significantly with more information; however, confidence then improves as the person becomes more informed.

The common misunderstanding a representative democracy is a good example of the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Most citizens have a simple understanding of the role of an elected official. They may believe that the role of a politician is to represent only his or her interests. This belief can result in dissatisfaction when a politician doesn’t appease their point of view. 

What IS the Role of an Elected Official in a Representative Democracy?

An elected official is to represent the best interests of all of the citizens in his/her district. Not only the ones that voted for her or him but all the citizens. It may be obvious, but not everyone holds the same values, nor has the same vision, so some may not agree with every choice a politician makes on their behalf.

But a representative democracy has further complications. If any of the citizens sought to create laws and policies that could potentially harm others, a politician should not assist them. For example, if a group of citizens sought a law to require three eyewitnesses to a rape, a politician would be wrong to represent that point of view. It would mean that almost every rape would be unprovable in court and all women would be at risk. Even if it is the view of the majority, a politician is duty-bound to act in the best interest of all citizens.

A politician’s role can be stated simply; however, it differs from common beliefs:

An elected official’s role is to serve the best interests of her or his constituency to the best of their ability, ignoring political ideologies, biases of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, or creed.

 

Why We Elect the Wrong People?: #2 We Don’t Understand the Purpose of a Republic

30 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by Paul Kiser in About Reno, Aging, Business, Communication, Economy, Education, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, Health, Higher Education, History, Honor, Management Practices, Politicians, Politics, Public Image, Public Relations, racism, Religion, Republic, Taxes, The Tipping Point, United States, Universities, US History, Voting, Women

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115th Congress, Business, candidates, Caucasian, democracy, Donald Trump, GOP, issues, Opinion, PAC's, platform, representatives, republic, Republican, uninformed, Voting, white male

Bad politicians are elected because the most voters don’t understand the purpose of a republic and because we don’t understand, we are manipulated by those who tell us what we want to hear. When anyone complains about Congress or the President we have to keep in mind that it is the voter that puts them in office and we are to blame.

Voters are responsible for who is elected

Business Uses Republicans For Profit

Last weekend I published an article on why Big Business wants dumb politicians. Simply put, dumb politicians don’t interfere with unethical business practices and unethical business practices are more profitable than ethical business practices. Republicans have discovered that business will finance their campaigns if they are willing to restrict the function of government in a republic; however, Republicans are elected because they know how to manipulate a certain population in our country. 

The Purpose of a Republic

Democracy is only effective if everyone is capable of researching all the information needed to make an intelligent decision on every issue facing a society. Even then, the ‘majority rules’ of a democracy is inherently unfair to the minority.

A republic accepts that not everyone will have enough information to make intelligent decisions on issues confronting a country so representatives are elected to research the issues and make the decisions that benefit the greatest number of people. The catch is that the representatives have to be capable of understanding complex issues and have to be honorable in the discharge of the duties of her or his office.

Opinions Are Irrelevant

What most voters don’t understand is that their ‘opinion is irrelevant in a republic,… and it should be. Opinions are based on the knowledge of the person. If the person is not qualified, not educated, and/or not experienced enough to understand the issue, his or her opinion is defective. When a ‘person on the street’ is interviewed, they are the least likely to have a valid opinion.

GOP Uses the White Male Voter

Republicans use uneducated and/or biased voter opinion to their benefit. They target issues that are based on misinformed or uneducated opinion that the voter is passionate about and elevate those issues in the political arena. Often these issues are based on the personal bias of the voter. Primarily, Republicans target opinions of the uneducated white male and exploit them by saying what the white male wants to hear to gain his support and trust.

The GOP reinforces the white male voter’s belief that he is correct. Republicans blame the government and liberals as the cause of the issue and convince white men that they will fix the problem if elected. Once they have gained the trust of the voter, it is relatively easy to plant other ‘issues’ in his mind. The twisted logic of giving money to the rich will create more jobs is a prime example of how Republicans plant an idea that completely defies common sense, and yet, Republican voters accept it as fact.

The Cure

If our country hopes to elect better politicians, then we have to choose those who are highly intelligent and honorable. We also must stop expecting candidates to take positions on issues before they are elected. Candidates with strong positions are often attempting to say what people want to hear. If our elected officials are intelligent and honorable, they will make good choices.

We also have to understand that our opinion is irrelevant unless we have expertise regarding the issue. Everyone has an opinion, but the only ones that count are the one with knowledge of the issue.

Government Shutdown An Opportunity

18 Thursday Jan 2018

Posted by Paul Kiser in Business, Crisis Management, Ethics, Government, Government Regulation, Health, Honor, Information Technology, Internet, Politics, Pride, Public Image, Public Relations, racism, Respect, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Taxes, US History, Women

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115th Congress, border wall, budget, DACA, democracy, Democrat, Democrats, Donald Trump, federal budget, government shutdown, ICE, immigrants, Mexican Immigrants, Net Neutrality, Republican, Tax Cut and Jobs Act, Twitter, US Customs, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, US/Mexican Border

DACA protesters in San Francisco 5 September 2017

Time for Democrats to take a stand

A government shutdown is a bad thing. It creates a lot of problems and it affects a lot of people. Typically, one political party is blamed, and that creates a risk of losing elections.

But this is a different moment in time. People are tired of being mowed over by the Republican party. People are tired of the Democrats always giving up concessions only to have the Republican take more away later. It’s time for Democrats to take a stand and not flinch.

Provisions To Avoid a Government Shutdown

Democrats can’t take the stand for just one issue. It has to be for several core issues and they cannot negotiate away any of the issues. Democrats should demand the following Provisions:

  1. All DACA recipients will be given a 20-year deferral and shall have preferred status in obtaining citizenship provided they are employed, a full-time student, are not convicted of a felony and pay all taxes as required.
  2. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will be restricted from taking any action on any immigrant unless the person has committed a felony. All immigrants in custody that have not committed a felony will be released.
  3. Net Neutrality must be restored.
  4. All measures passed by the House or Senate must achieve a two-thirds majority for the remainder of the 115th Congress, and for the 116th Congress if Republicans maintain a majority in the House or Senate.
  5. The 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act is repealed except for those tax cuts for those earning under $250,000.
  6. All Trump appointees must be removed from office and all acts by those appointees are to be rescinded. All new appointees must be meet Provision 4, above.
  7. President Donald Trump will not be allowed to make any Executive Orders for the remainder of his term, and all of his previous Executive Orders by President Donald Trump are rescinded.
  8. All funding for a wall between Mexico and the United States will be void, with the exception of sections of the border that both Mexico and the United States agree upon.
  9. President Donald Trump will not be allowed to have a Twitter account.
  10. President Donald Trump must pay for all services and costs when not staying in the White House or other government-owned facilities.

Shutdown Better Than Alternative?

These ten provisions may seem harsh. The alternative may be mass work stoppages, strikes, and protests, which is what will likely happen if the Democrats fail to stop the Republicans from destroying our country.

Journalists Using Uneducated, Uninformed Opinion As Fact

16 Saturday Dec 2017

Posted by Paul Kiser in Aging, Communication, Education, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, Green, Health, Higher Education, Journalism, Politics, racism, Religion, Science, Taxes, Traditional Media, Universities, US History, Women

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CBS News, democracy, Fox News, HuffPost, journalism, journalists, MSNBC, News media, npr, Opinion, republic, Trumpsters

There is a growing crisis of legitimate news organizations interviewing an uninformed person and presenting it as news. The person-on-street interview is justified by journalists as a citizen’s opinion, using the logic that all citizens are equally informed and knowledgeable; therefore, his or her opinion is valid.

Opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one.

Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry

However, an opinion is limited by the person’s real experience and knowledge. Few people are qualified to speak intelligently on significant topics like foreign policy, and economic and legal issues. An unqualified person should not be giving their opinion on local or national news without clarifying his or her background on the subject matter.

Journalists Going For Entertainment, Not Fact

The problem of unqualified opinions being presented as news has become more severe as the opinions have become more outrageous. Trump supporters have had an entertainment value for some news organizations because their statements are often contrary to known facts and/or logical reasoning.

We do not go to first graders and ask them to design the best and most effective educational methods because they have no qualifications or skills to offer an opinion. They may have an opinion, but having recess all day long is not a legitimate answer to the question.

Opinions of uneducated, uninformed citizens destroy democracy because it circumvents intelligent discussion. An irrational person’s opinion does not lead to a rational debate of the issues.

Brexit Vote A Win For Stupidity, Not Democracy

27 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Business, Communication, Education, Ethics, Generational, Government, Government Regulation, Higher Education, History, Politics, Taxes

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Brexit, British, British Pound, democracy, Economic disaster, England, European Union, Great Britain, gullible, Ireland, Nigel Farage, Scotland, stupid, Stupidity, United Kingdom, Vote, Wales

The Brexit Cliff: British pound to US dollar

The Brexit Cliff: British pound to US dollar

There are some that are trying to spin the disastrous vote by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union as a victory for democracy. It is not.

The people behind the effort to leave the European Union used lies and deception to convince the most gullible Brits to support them. Expert opinions predicted the negative impact of leaving the European Union, but those experts were countered with a “No it won’t” argument that had no basis in human reality. 

nigel-farage

Nigel Farage: Proud Hero of the Stupid

The demographics of those who voted to leave the European Union was defined by three criteria. They tended to be 1) less educated, 2) older, and 3) rural. The demographics of those voting to leave indicate they were more easily persuaded by arguments without logical or factual information. This is the weakness of democracy. The unintelligent should not be the decision makers of a society.

Advocates of leaving the European Union, like Nigel Farage, suggested that Great Britain would be able to win its independence, which is a ridiculous argument. Great Britain was and is a self-governing nation. The European Union determined issues of trade requirements, which it will continue to do with or without Great Britain. If Great Britain wishes to obtain access to the European Union’s markets, they have to negotiate those terms, or not trade with other European Union countries. By leaving the European Union, Great Britain has put themselves in a weak position to negotiate, and will likely have to compromise more as a non-member, than the would have had to as a member.

Immigration was portrayed as a ‘keep-the-immigrants-out’ issue by the proponents of leaving the European Union; however, it is Britons who have taken advantage of the ‘no passports needed’ policy of the EU, that will now lose the right to work outside of Great Britain. It was the gullibility of the uneducated, older, rural citizen that allowed them to be lured into throwing England over the cliff. 

Democracy is always hailed as the best form of government; however, even the Roman ‘democracy’ did not allow everyone to vote. Only citizens were allowed to vote, and that excluded much of their population. While limiting the right to vote is not acceptable in a free society, allowing people to vote who are either unable, and/or unwilling to understand the issues they are voting for or against is a model of stupidity, not democracy.

Other Pages of This Blog

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  • Common Core: Are You a Good Switch or a Bad Switch?
  • Familius Interruptus: Lessons of a DNA Shocker
  • Moffat County, Colorado: The Story of Two Families
  • Rules on Comments
  • Six Things The United States Must Do
  • Why We Are Here: A 65-Year Historical Perspective of the United States

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