“Democracy is the worst form of government we have ever had, except for all the others.” – Winston Churchill

For decades now this statement has been the best defense of democracy. But Churchill is probably rolling in his grave knowing that he had the unintended effect of making us complacent. We constantly complain about the problems of our flawed system but throw up our hands and say ‘well, it’s better than tyranny so carry on’. He probably wishes people would focus more on something else he said, “The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.”

Democracy is based on the idea that the people know what is best for them, but who can claim to know enough anymore to actually know what is best for them? We have become subservient to the needs of society as the modern world has forced us to become hyper-specialists. Individuals know a lot about the very narrow branch of knowledge needed to get and keep their job, yet next to nothing about things outside of that domain because there simply isn’t enough time to inform ourselves on everything that matters. We have also become trapped in media bubbles so thick we can’t even see passed them. Add to this that the world has become staggeringly complex and the amount of information needed to make sense of it all has grown astronomically. All of which has made it nearly impossible for any of us to develop a wide enough perspective to make informed political decisions.

So what do we do when presented with a ballot box to fill in? We vote based on a handful of issues that we each think are important without taking into consideration the hundreds of other issues at stake in every election. As Hunter Maats said, “You can’t get the wisdom of crowds if the crowd isn’t wise.”