Carrera said:
...Plato rejected democracy as inefficient...
Most, if not all, of the World's "democracies" are actually democratic oligarchies, by accident or design. A true democracy would call for decision by open referendum on matters brought before government for consideration. In some "democracies", even matters that are brought forward for open referendum are often presented in a form so as to nearly pre-determine the result.
Does anyone have any recollection of how the referendum for Australia becoming a republic was delivered? Some people on the group probably have a less disjointed memory of the presentation than I. I always thought that the referendum should have been in 2 parts:
[1] Should Australia become a republic (Yes / No)?
[2] If Australia does become a republic (regardless of whether you answered Yes or No to [1]), what system of government should it adopt (a / b / c...)?
I seem to recall that the actual referendum required a bunch of republicans to tear each other apart in debate, prior to the referendum, as they were to put forward only 1 model of system of government as the alternative to the encumbent.
If this is the way it was, this filtering does 2 things:
(a) Splits the vote of those who would otherwise have voted republican - If the selected model offered is not acceptable to them, they will vote for the encumbent system of government.
(b) Disenfranchises the populi, including those who were against the republic, by not allowing them a say in the system of government they are to be blessed / encumbered with, should the republic vote succeed.
Democratic oligarchies (in their various manifestations) trust the people to have the necessary knowledge to make the 'correct' decisions in choosing the people who make up (or decide the make up of) the oligarchy, but do not trust them to have the necessary knowledge to make the 'correct' decisions that the oligarchy make on their behalf.
This works well (and relatively efficiently) when the oligarchy do have the knowledge and do make the 'correct' decisions on behalf of the people, but goes horribly pear-shaped when they do not, or they keep the knowledge from the people as it may alter the people's view that the oligarchy are truly acting in the best interests of the people.