On Sun, Jan 19, 2003 at 02:09:45PM +0100, Magnus Manske wrote:
Dictatorship or voting. Pick one.
I pick both. Benevolent dictatorship where the dictator listens to and respects the voice of his constituents works quite well. It amounts to concsensus; to retain power, the benevolent dictator has to come up with solutions that everyone can live with. When you have votes on the other hand, the will of the majority can make things so unlikeable for minorities that they just up and leave.
Did anyone ever notice that Kropotkin said Russian villages used to run entirely based on consensus, without any voting? Too bad the communists destroyed that lifestyle; I'd like to see firsthand how they managed it. I suspect it was because everyone shared a common culture, language, and religion, and had known each other all their lives.
Jonathan