- Sid: I think democracy is the best possible political system!
- Woo: You do?!
- Shadow: That’s great!
- Woo: Who supports the new law that all present squirrels should be eaten by a fox and a raccoon?
- Sid: VETO! VETO!
- Woo: I’m sorry, but a majority is a majority.
- Sid: I think democracy is the worst possible political system…
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![[0051] Democracy](http://www.sandraandwoo.com/comics/2009-04-16-[0051]-democracy.png "[0051] Democracy")
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[0051] Democracy
└ posted on Thursday, 16 April 2009, by Novil
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Democracy is a well armed squirel
… That’s scary, because it makes perfect sense. 0.o
woo and his coments of the majority…
“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those others that have been tried.”
- Winston Churchill
“Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to have for lunch… Liberty is a well-armed sheep.”
American Democracy consists of Majority Rule WITH Minority rights. I.e. civil rights, the thirteenth amendment. Socialism – not the answer ~.^
Democracy is great when you’re the majority!
“Democracy is the right of the majority to abuse the minority.”
– Thoreau
To paraphrase Ben Franklin…. “Democracy is a Fox, a Raccoon, and a Squirrel voting on what to have for Lunch. Liberty is a well-armed Squirrel contesting the vote.”
“Veto is Vote spelled sideways.”–Me
The USA is not, and never has been, a democracy. It is a representative republic with a democratic form of selection.
The Founding Fathers, with the French example before them, were very definite that they were *not* establishing a democracy.
This strip also proves that the question is just as important. If Woo asked for a vote allowing a racoon to eat a squirrel, he would lose by a 2-1 margin. Same thing if the question granted the fox exclusive meal rights.
Thought the squirrel’s reaction comical when you see the bored expressions of Woo and the fox.
Hate to say it, but the poor little guy needs to get a better class of friends. Perhaps, a whole army of friends, as seen in Open Season…
“…here we meet McSquizzy (Billy Connolly), who is a defiant, Scottish-sounding squirrel with an attitude; he won’t let Boog up the tree, Boog asks the classic “you and what army” question, an army of squirrels appear on the branches of the tree, armed with nuts. Boog relents, and goes to another tree, where McSquizzy once again appears; when Boog tries to climb, he’s pelted with nuts, and runs away with McSquizzy making fun of him.”
Clipped from ‘Movie Spoilers for the film – OPEN SEASON’ web site.
I wanted the word-for-word dialog from that scene. Alas…
I shudder to think what would happen if they tried dictatorships for a while…
Sid looks so pitiful in that last panel. I agree with the others, he could use an army of squirrels right now.
Heh, squirrel made two mistakes:
1. One really shouldn’t hang around with predators.
2. This is the danger of pure democracy, he should have gone for a constitutional republic with a specific list of what is NOT to be added to the menu!
3. (Ok, there’s three things!
) get a .17HMR revolver, low recoil for easy squirrel use, and stops small – mid sized predators in their tracks! =^^=
They’re so mean to him, you have to wonder why Sid sticks around them
Ok, how many “Eat the squirrel” jokes are we going to get? The rather cute idea of a squirrel and a fox 9and also a raccoon) being friends doesn’t work so well if the squirrel is being threatened to be eaten every now and then.
Democracy is the worst possible political system, except for all the others.
England isn’t a democracy either. It’s a monarchy governed by a democratically elected government.
And to think, these two systems appear to be the most successful.
I also vote that the squirrel gets eaten. Cajun style.
Noes not sid!
Hehe but from their point of view it seems like a good bit of fun of course
Sid should be careful of wat he says, lest it’s turned around against him
There is no one “best” form of government. They all suck in their own ways. The only real solution is to take the parts that suck the least out of each, and try to hammer them together into something that’ll function.
There is no incorruptable institution. By way of logic, all human beings are flawed, or imperfect, and it stands to reason that something that is imperfect cannot create that which is perfect. Therefore, any system made by man, to govern man, will be flawed, and so subject to the less admirable qualities of our nature, leading to inevitable failure. The success of any given system of government, therefore, can be measured, at least to some degree, in the quality of the people it produces, and how long said system survives.
In response to Callidus
“Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely.”
Herein is why Democracy tends to be [somewhat] less corrupt. When one man [monarch, dictator, etc] rules, they tend to get power-drunk. When a small group of men [Republic, congress, senate, tribune, etc] rule, they, too, tend to become addicted to the power. So when its a government ruled by ALL the people, then the power is distributed, and it becomes harder to be corrupted by it. But man will always find a way. It is the downfall of the human condition. Greed and Pride.
I disagree with this assessment of democracy. For starters woo and Foxboy come from a position of greater power…which isn’t democracy, unless this is a representation of democracy in a socialist or communist system it fails to represent accurately a true democracy. In a true democracy all parties have equal power, and have an equal power to debate, promote, or share their ideas and opinions. The best leader is elected by the majority of equally empowered citizens and it goes up the ladder from there.
NOTE: presidents aren’t elected by the people, the electoral votes are based on the number of senators a state has.
I think that everyone is underestimating the importance of checks and balances. These, after all, are the means by which absolute power is avoided.
Prehaps this is intended by Woo and the fox to be an object lesson in the perils of unrestricted majority rule for the squirrel.
I’ll try not to feel too close to the squirrel, because I wouldn’t put it past you to have him eaten on Monday. That’s really not my preference, but I know you only so well.
“Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.”
The strip’s assessment of pure democracy is spot on, in my opinion.. In a pure democracy (devoid of checks and balances and limitations of power), you do tend to end up with the majority running over the minority in areas where it shouldn’t happen. Mob rule would be a good image of it..
That’s why the United States is a democratic republic, so that the people are still represented (which is good), but the minorities (in an idealogical sense, not a racial one) still have options and meaningful representation.
Perfect? No. Incorruptible? Obviously not. But it is one of the best systems ever devised.
Electoral votes are based on the number of *Representatives* a state has.
Somewhere recently – it doesn’t seem to have been here – someone quoted Mencken (i think)”
“Democracy is a system that assumes that The People know what they want and deserve to get it, good and hard”
Some of the more successful devices that the Human race has devised…can already be found in one way or another in Nature.
Those that are far more in touch with Nature can provide great examples of this.
I do like the way you think
Lol : ) Reguardless of the the fact that nobody cares,
I haven’t commented in a while cause I was away, but now I’m back! I still love Woo, and here he is showing off his cleverness!
LOL!!! so true
Especially now in India where the elections have begun.Whenever I see the ballot its like choosing from a menu where all the items will kill you if you eat it.
I’ve just read the cast page and realised something……. Sid is a red squirrel! This changes everything!
I therefore retract my previous statement about him getting cooked cajun style and I shall now be rooting for him.
@ hail2tfreeman: I guess many people think like that in almost all countries of the world, so it’s certainly not an Indian speciality. Sadly, democracy does not magically get you better politicians, but at least it puts some pressure on them that they don’t fuck over the people *all* the time.
…like Barack Obama here in America. Ok, ignore that, I’m sorry to all the Obama fans. I don’t want a political argument…
You don’t need to be a republic to have a constitution. And socialism is not the opposite of democracy.. dictatorship is (it doesn’t really matter what you call the dictator, if one person calls all the shots, and can’t be removed short of killing them, it’s a dictatorship).
the most effective form of government is one where everyone agrees, unfortunately this can only be attained when there is only one person involved, therefore, humanity is screwed
So hang on here, what is the purpose of a government?
If it’s to keep most people happy, then pure democracy is perfect. If a minority suffers, then it’s just bad luck for being in the minority. Think of the greater good!
If it’s to keep everybody happy, then you need absolute fascism so that you’re in control of every aspect of everyone’s life from birth right the way up. If they never know any different they won’t complain. Ignorance really is bliss as long as the leader isn’t an out-and-out tyrant. Alas, it takes away what makes us human – sentience and free will. Is it practical? Absolutely not. Is it fair? No.
Now, if you want a fair society, go for pure communism. Is it effective? Well, nobody really knows because the system is so open to abuse that we’re yet to see communism.
And that’s what the well-armed-squirrel/sheep thing comes down to. Why wouldn’t Sid, if he had a .17 revolver or whatever was mentioned earlier, simply turn the tables and get everything he wanted? Look at that situation from the view of Woo. A well-armed-sheep is destined to become a despot.
Now, how often does democracy, or fascism, or communism feature in your daily life? How do you and your friends make decisions? What it really comes down to is being a decent, reasonable person. After all, if there’s a reason you think something’s a reasonable request or suggestion, and you keep an open mind, then discuss the reasons with someone else, both should eventually agree; or at the very least agree to disagree on an unproven situation/speculative fact. If everyone was just more considerate and reasonable, we’d live in a much better world. Sadly, greed and pig-headedness leave many disadvantaged and left out or even targetted by the system of government in place.
Even there, though, you run into problems with knowledge. You don’t advise a car mechanic how to fix your engine, because he knows more than you do (I’m generalising). Something may seem reasonable and then break down in the future. Sub-prime morgages? Toxic debt? Negative equity? Credit crunch? As they say in Spain, “La crisis”, anyone?
Another problem is with your upbringing. Go back several hundred years and slavery was A-okay. Black people weren’t really people! As recent as the 1950s in the US, they weren’t equal. Even with a constitution in place to protect rights, if it’s governed by a constitution, there needs to be the point at which the clause is written in. Then there needs to be a point where it’s acted upon and enforced. Imagine if 200 years from now…. I don’t know…. vivisection was seen in the same light as slavery. Just stay with me for a minute. We’d never think of saying that animals should have the same opportunity to do jobs as humans. Nobody in their right mind would write that into law next week! But this was the same view taken by many people back then. What I’m saying is, a constitution is only as good as protecting minorities those who write it, and who enforce it. And the problem with that, is that most of those people will be, by definition, in the majority, not minorities themselves. Then it has to be voted on to come into law. Then enforced with all previous prejudice forgotten.
Can you see how it can take 150 years for any semblance of equality for blacks in a white society to emerge?
All in all, democracy is broken. I can wax even more lyrical on the subject. I would call the UK today a type of Democratic Socialism – the NHS, for example, is a good way of showing what I mean. It ain’t perfect, but as Churchill said, it’s the best we’ve got.
P.S. And England – or the UK, or Britain (I lose track over what Wales and Scotland are and aren’t part of when talking in a purely political sense, rather than a geographic one) – is not really a monarchy. The Queen is almost incapable of stopping laws being passed – the House of Commons can, and on more than one occasion has, simply overrule the House of Lords. I’m sure they’d be able to overrule the Queen. She is not consulted for reforms to structures and protocols and such e.g. child benefit schemes.
PHEW! Okay, I’m going to shut up for a few weeks now ;P
As the years go by and the world changes at an ever quickening pace, things will become trickier to judge. Perhaps, in some respects, requiring some sort of “finish line snapshot” device to even see things coming into light.
Yes. I have little doubt that there may yet come a day when one will have to stop in the middle of the road to let that swarm of bees float to the other side. As animal rights need to become something more then a few sub-paragraphs, ajoined in the law books. It will probably take better thinking in seeing them as something that thinks, exists and interacts in this world over just being something that can benefit or trouble “OUR EXISTANCE”. *sigh*
Case in point: A few months back, there was this community that co-existed with several deer in harmony. One day, a male gardener went out to tend to his flowers on a hill side. His actions were a little too careless, frightening a resting buck. In turn, the buck jumped to his hooves, slicing the antler tip into the gardener’s chest. The encounter was sadly fatal. This was also not a case of aggression, but a second’s action of flight. However, the law came in, captured the buck, hauled it off to a holding facility for execution before the sun set. Now, what if the gardener had startled a sleeping bank robber and was aggressively killed? Said thief would be in jail for years, going through a grand scheme of law levels, prosecution, court case…on and on and on.
In short, because of our current viewpoint of society, a Human gets years and even a chance at freedom. An animal gets an extension to spare others the sound of a gunshot.
Britbloke – name that overriding example? It certainly wasn’t the controvertial detention-without-charge matter that started to resemble a yo-yo before the lords pretty much got bored of it and let it through in a diluted form… The point of parliament was to take various decisions out of the monarch’s hands (either to prevent absolute power, or to give them more free time – i’m fuzzy on that front
but they do still have some abilities. EG dissolving parliament is their privelege, and the PM still has to go ask them to do it once a date is set for an election or whatever. Possibly they may be able to either force it or deny it if something fishy seems to be going on? I’d be quite sure on them being above the vagaries of martial law also and maybe able to have an impact on it.
Dear old Liz is indeed something more akin to the figurehead on a ship than its cannon, but I wouldn’t rate her as completely powerless. And if it came to a crunch I think I’d probably side with her decisions (experience, and seeming something both of a tough and a sensible old bird) than the rapidly flailing Gordo and his insane clown posse.
I like cookies.
I agree with T-bolt. that said, here are my other thoughts:
Power does not corrupt. the Corrupt seek power.
An Armed sheep cannot become a despot if the wolf/fox/raccoon all carry arms too. That creates a situation where everyone is required to respect each other’s rights, or die. SOMEONE is always going to be armed, even if it is just the military. The only way to prevent the armed group from simply taking over- like how Ceasar, 1st emperor of Rome took over- is to arm EVERYONE.
It has of course been argued that this would increase crime, and that it is unnecessary for people to be able to defend themselves from their own goverment in mordern times, on the grounds now, at this point in time, we will *never* repeat the primitive mistakes of the past, and violence will never be necessary to overcome governement corruption again.
Of course, Britain’s crime rate rose after guns were banned, and Britain currently has many times the annual mugging rate per capita of America…and most of the gun murders in America are commited in Chicago/New York were people aren’t allowed to carry weapons to defend themselves. And Michigan’s crime rate got much lower after right to carry laws were passed, and stayed low even as the economy got worse, and Illinois’ crime rate got lower after the Supreme Court overturned all handgun bans in the nation, so on and so forth.
I think they should have just gone with rock-paper-scissors (best 2 out of 3) or draw for straws. Then again, when you’re just a single squirrel with two predator-types eyeing you up, you’d best climb up a tree and make like a nut.
“The needs of the many…”
democracy is great!
unless the majority disagrees with you, of course
You know what I think? I think today’s comic…
…is funny.
America is not a Democracy. America is a Constitutional Republic with Democratically-elected leaders. Best of both worlds there.
And BritBloke, Communism is a bad idea because it is based on a flawed idea. Marx and Engels based their manifesto entirely on a fallacy; that all work done by all people is equal. As such, everything that was developed from communism – including Socialism – is based on a fallacious idea, and therefore has a foundation of quicksand. Do not try to sell it, because intelligent people ain’t buying.
@ argent stonecutter i just noticed your comment. you play overlord 2 niiiice!
One armed person is nothing. Give a gun to everyone and the most popular gang will win and establish a dictatorship.
For interest and for new thougts: Did you know Aristotle actually called Democracy the worse version of the actual two and it’s pair: Polity was on his opinion a better. Just like: Aristocracy/oligarchy. I think people are way too easily accepting democracy as bad or good. We should see things with problems and think of the possible answers to these problems. Myself I love and hope for the Zeitgeist-document’s option. Also: sorry for my english, it isn’t my mother-language.