Democracy is a complete joke.

At the moment, Democracy is making me angry. Why? Because it is becoming increasingly clear to me that it is little more than a popularity contest. Who can tell the most heartwarming stories to win the people? Who can make the most empty promises? Who can talk the most hot air? Democracy is supposed to be the ultimate political system of the developed, civilised world: everybody’s views have an opportunity to be recognised, and the majority opinion will win. However, you need only to take a brief glance at any democratic election campaign to realise that there is something horribly wrong with democracy.

 Why do we have a system where instead of caring about the policies of the Government that is going to shape our lives, we care an awful lot more about the leader of that Government, what his skin colour is and who he has been screwing? In my opinion at least, the crux of the matter is that, unfortunately, democracy has turned into a nation-wide popularity contest, pumped up with empty promises and autobiographies of struggling childhoods. I don’t care if the president is black, white, yellow, red, purple or green. I care about what he stands for.
 Am I the only person in democratic society who literally does not care who the Prime Minister/President is? Does no-one else care about the policies that parties represent, why they hold those, how honestly they believe in their policies, and how far they are going to go to make those policies part of my every day life? Take this image, for example, Does it say anything about policy? About how Obama is going to help the American people?

Nope, it’s a poster for A FRIGGEN POPULARITY CONTEST. The problem with placing all of the focus onto the leader of the party is best illustrated with an obvious cliche.
Imagine you have a vote in a hypothetical election. There are two candidates that can be voted for:

Candidate A was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium at University and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening.
Candidate B is a decorated war hero. He’s vegetarian, doesn’t smoke, has the occasional beer and hasn’t had any extramarital affairs.
Who would you choose? I assume you’ve got enough intelligence to guess where this is going: Candidate A is Winston Churchill, Candidate B is Adolf Hitler.

Of course, this is an illustration that should only be taken at face value. Despite this, I believe that it still serves to richly illustrate what a colossal mistake it is to determine the character of a person by listing their virtues. My point being: WHY DOES EVERYONE CARE SO MUCH ABOUT OBAMA’S SKIN COLOUR? It says nothing. Literally nothing. It is a popularity contest.

You can see why so many people can’t be bothered voting, and why they want to give up on the entire system. New Zealand had it’s lowest polling numbers in last year’s election for a reason. People are tired of the bitching and nattering fueled on by the media. You can’t blame the media, because they are obliged to report on politics. So, instead I choose to blame the way the first world society is set up for the way political debate never, never ends. Despite my anger about what democracy has become, I have a theory as to why it’s reached it’s current state.

People like to be ruled over. They like to have a figurehead. That’s why the majority of human history consists of some form of monarchy holding the reins, and it’s why we care far more about the figurehead of a political party than it’s actual policies. And its why I think we should get rid of democracy. At least that way, we can live in peace for extended periods of time, needing an uprising over the suitability of our leader every couple decades, instead of every bloody three years.

 What do you guys think about this? Do you think that democracy has gotten ridiculous, or it’s still the best system available? Do you think that people like the be ruled over? Until later,
 Charlie x