Would you prefer a competent king to an incompetent president?

Eudaimonist

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It seems like Democracy isn't doing so well economically in the US.

What leads you to think that democracy is the problem?

Is another form of government the answer?

Sweden has a King, but I see no advantage to this. But I suppose you mean an hereditary dictatorship?

Why would this work any better? Were the Middle Ages really so great?


eudaimonia,

Mark
 
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winsome

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If a king (or Queen) is has no power (as in the UK) then it is irrelevant. The question just transposes to the equivalent to the President - in this case the Prime Minister.

If you have a Monarch with power, as in England in the middles ages then you can have good Monarchs but also very bad Monarchs.

One big difference though is that you can't easily get rid of a bad Monarch.

At least with a democracy you can get rid of the bad President or Prime Minister (eventually).
 
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jayem

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There is no recourse against a King that is bad.

Revolution, but that's formidable, dangerous, and messy. Divided, democratically elected government is cumbersome and inefficient, but it has checks and balances, and is at some point answerable to the voters. That advantage ultimately outweighs any incompetence and ineffectiveness.
 
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FallenPaladin

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There is no recourse against a King that is bad. Perhaps he would be good and his son would not be. That is simply why a democratic system is necessary and proper for any modern scenario.

Isn't the same true of a democracy only worse? In a democracy it seems the best liar always wins. At least with a king the leader would be beyond having to pander to special interests, except the military of course.
 
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Verv

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Was it Plato that recomended a educated elite to run the country?

He wrote a book called The Republic but I haven't read it.

Yeah but always consider this was at a time when education was not widespread by any means. By an educated elite he literally was referencing some of the only functionally literate people there were.

This idea of being ruled by the educated elite was also essentially what Monarchy was when you came down to it as the only people who could afford to indulge at all in education were somehow in connection with the Church elite or the Noble or the merchants in the process of trying to become nobles.

The idea just is not applicable today as everything is too different, and these ideas of Plato were just not taking into consideration any of the elements that we have today in our society.
 
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