The drawback of participatory democracy – cartoon.
The cartoon illustrates the fact that in a pure democracy if a tiny majority of voters want anything they can get it, such as a law stating that any particular group needn’t pay tax. In the cartoon the 51% of the population have voted for the resolution that the 51% of the population who are taller than the rest needn’t pay any taxes. The 51% who are taller are the 51% who voted for the resolution.
A famous quote about democracy was made by Winston Churchill (in a speech in the House of Commons on November 11th 1947): “Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
Notice that he included the phrase “it has been said”, implying that someone else said this before him, although the phrase is often attributed to Churchill.
Drawn: Oct 2011
Cartoon reference number: democ2
democ2
