My plan to save American democracy

[OzzyKP]

Originally posted by Aeson
Remove voting age requirement, write-in (or rather type-in) ballots only. At least then people will have to know the name of who they are voting for, and how to spell it. (And those youngsters who do know, won't be locked out.)

[C0ckney]

aggie, bebro puts it very well but there are a few things i'd like to add.

to say that democracy is about making the best decisions or, to use your language, achieving optimal political results, is not true. this sort of thing is completely subjective. the best results for you are oviously going to be different from someone with a g w bush bumper sticker and a confederate flag on their aerial. democracy is not necessarily about things being done in the way you would like, but rather about giving people the right to express what they think about the present situation and giving them the opportunity to elect representatives who promise to do more of the things they like.

you talk about authoritarians, and excluding them from the political process, but it's very unclear what you mean by that and how large a group we are talking about. it's also quite amusing, because given the views you express on the forum, you are quite the authoritarian yourself. at the same time, you don't seem to realise that this ill-defined group of people, who you despise, have the same stake in society and the same rights as anyone else.