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A lesser known Churchill saying is “The best argument against democracy is to talk to an average voter for five minutes”. Here Churchill was lamenting the fact that the average person often is badly informed or educated to vote for best course of action for him and the society, and often are voting based on raw emotion or misinformation. Certainly the founding Fathers of America did not have enough trust of the masses and choose to have a government elected by representatives (the elector of all fifty states) of the people. It is only later that the process was evolved to the current popular vote system and the electors become only symbolic figures. On the other hand, the check-and-balance system of government in the US is a unique invention of democracy that survived many crisis and wars. Even with the current gridlock in the US government with regard to spending and welfare, the better known Churchill quotation of “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all others” still rings true.

This past week, the Economist magazine had a cover article about the financial woes of California. The article laid blame squarely on the shoulder of “extreme democracy” practiced by the State of California. In California, voters can directly enact laws by-passing the elected legislature using the so-called ”initiatives”. In the past decades, many such “initiatives” were passed by the diet-drink addicted populace (i.e. sweet (meaning benefits and services) but no calories (no tax to pay for it)). As a result, the state is basically bankrupt and in heavy debt.

Freedom of speech is another basic rights guaranteed by democracy. But with the rise of the Internet and instant communication of the modern world, rumors and falsehood spread like wildfire in a crowded theater with many unforeseen and unintended consequences. Here we are reminded of the saying of the modern Chinese philosopher Liang Chi-Cao who said “you must limit your freedom in order to protect it”

Finally, the Arrow Impossibility Theorem proved to us that perfect DEMOCRACY is unattainable even in the abstract. Pessimists of the future of mankind can unite behind that depressing thought.