Do you think the world would be better if we had a regulated meritocratic government?

The problem with a democratic republic is that the general public don't make informed rational decisions, and the representatives care more about their own political interests than the short and long term interests of society.

2009-01-15T23:23:44Z

Any form of government is subject to abuse, which is why it would be a regulated meritocratic government. If it wasn't regulated then it would have the same problems with corruption. There would be regulations in place that would prevent the system from being abused.

2009-01-16T00:11:34Z

The criteria for evaluating merit would be decided by a panel of experts. Individuals that performed in the top 1% on standardized IQ tests could be in the panel of experts. The Judicial branch would appoint a selection committee to evaluate parliament candidates based on the criteria of the panel of experts. The parliament would hold elections to appoint three members of the executive branch. To make decisions two of the three executive members would need to agree. A rotating randomly selected private auditing firm would perform routine government investigations and would have the authority of impeach members. I'm not saying that what I just mentioned would be the best options, but it would be possible to put measures or checks and balances in place.

2009-01-16T00:20:26Z

No system is perfect, but there are systems that are better than other systems, and it is important that analysis is done to find the best system possible.

Many people say that the democracy is the better than any other form of government, so why change it. I think that's a little like someone saying that someone from the 1800s saying that a telegraph was the fastest way to communicate, so why change it.

Anonymous2009-01-14T21:35:57Z

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EDIT PER ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

Your statement that the system would be regulated makes me reiterate my original questions (with a twist). What are the regulations? Who gets to make them? Who does the enforcing? How do they do the enforcing? What methods are in place to ensure that those who do the enforcing do not themselves become corrupt?

This is the problem with Utopian views. They are always dependent on people who can only be trusted in the short term. History shows us that there is no system which can guarantee virtue. All systems must be run by people; and in the end, simple human nature always can be counted on to undo the best laid plans.
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Of course we would all fare better under meritocratic government. The trick is how do we achieve it, and who makes the determination of "Merit."

This was the whole question that Plato undertook to resolve in "The Republic." His answer was the "Philosopher Kings."

But there's no way to guarantee that you always get virtue. It really does all boil down to these questions: What is merit; and who gets to make the determination of merit?

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guru2009-01-14T22:19:15Z

A meritocracy would quickly turn into an elitist and totalitarian state. Those who meet the "merit" requirements would be at the "top of the food chain" and deciding that others are not rational or informed exclude them from the political process.

The solution is broaden the type of government where individuals and governments have rights, but that they also have obligations.

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Graham P2009-01-15T04:43:02Z

Any sort of government is open to abuse if the people let the poeple in power abuse the system.

One advantage of old fashioned royalty is that there were just a few who held power to abuse, and wealth was kept together and not dissipated.

No system is perfect.

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sam2009-01-15T21:55:32Z

No I don't think like that. Many of the world problems created / being created by meritocratic selfish people only. In the democratic majority of people should be human beings by heart & mind and follow virtuous path. Then we can have good persons to lead us as they will come up from with in us only. All of us may be with few exception are in human form with animal characters only and hence our leader will be like that only as we could not get persons from unknown world.
We should cultivate our mind and purify it and realize the Truth and many of our fellow beings follow the right path as our religions have failed in that respect.

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babysnoopyfan2009-01-14T21:32:32Z

I am not really sure what you mean, but I think the government should be hands-off, maybe the public should be better informed, but if you are suggesting they shouldn't have a say in decisions such as elections, I don't think I like that idea.

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