Refusing Democracy

Why Masses Shouldn't Choose Their Leader

Why Is A Leader Needed At First Place

Before we delve in details of democracy and compare it with other forms of government its important to understand why a group needs an individual as a leader? Why cannot each person be his own guide? This understanding makes the foundation for this entire discussion.

A leader is needed because masses lack knowledge, expertise to know what to do. They need a path, a course of action. Leader tells them what to do.

Life is a journey in time, into future, in uncharted territory. Events dont repeat, they may rhyme, they may not. 

The future is not known. Therefore, as it is, it cannot be prepared for. We need a sketch, a prediction to have a frame to prepare for. We need preparation, without it we most likely fail.

We need a person with vision, who can foresee, predict, correctly, so we can prepare. Without prediction there is no rational choosing of a path. How can one know which path is better if there is no "seeing in future"?

Ofcourse people would say that this, foreseeing, is not all that a leader do. That a leader also have to keep the group together, by providing justice. That without a leader there is no group.

Yes, its true that without a leader there is no group and every individual is on his own. There are so many choices for each action to take in life that after a while there is no reason for group to be together if there is no unity in action. Paths will diverge pretty soon. Each person would be alone in his journey.

I would argue that that, keeping group together by being both just and a swift executor of justice, depends on foreseeing, on correctly predicting in advance what path to take, by knowing relative weightage of consequences of possible courses of action. Its not that members of a broken justice system dont want to optimize, its that they dont know how to optimize. Putting personal benefits over group benefits is because of lack of vision, of wisdom, of not knowing strongly enough that what they are kicking would come bite them back, that they are destroying their ownselves first and most.

Why Masses Shouldn't Choose Their Leader

How can you tell that a doctor is doing his work correctly if you are not a doctor yourself? 

You can hire another doctor to oversee the doctor but then how would you manage this one?

You can ask the patients about the performance but what do they know? They also lack the expertise. They can only tell that they feel better or not but thats not objective. Certain treatments can make people feel very good while their health is deteriorating. Even objective analysis, of blood tests etc wouldn't guide you enough because if you are not a doctor you cannot match that with treatment given by doctor to tell how good the doctor is.

All that you can do is compare your doctor with other doctors who are facing similar patients having similar disease, look at what treatments they are giving and what are the results. Once you do this study and able to see patterns and draw conclusions, you can also predict results. At this point you are yourself an expert, and not just of diseases and their respective treatments but also of doctors; you can make predictions about doctors too in addition of treatments for diseases. 

There is no easy way out in choosing a leader. You have to know. Anybody that do rational, objective choosing have to know. Know the candidates, know the problems or tasks the chosen leader have to face or do, know about similar problems or tasks faced by previous leaders and what actions they took and the results of their actions. It requires detailed knowledge that would take time to be gathered and then again even more time to sufficiently absorb, absorb enough to see patterns to draw conclusions and finally to have an educated opinion. Its not something anybody or even most can do even if they have enough free time, it requires a certain genius, a certain level of intelligence.

Its important to understand that its not a matter of having free time. This is what confused certain french philosphers of 17th century that gave rise to modern era democracy. Machines can sure empower masses, in the sense that now each can produce what hundreds used to produce. But that would make them experts in machines. It will not make them experts in people. Even if machines doing all the work free their time.

Its worse in modern times and in foreseeable future. As machines become more automatic masses become even less expert in machines. The only thing they become experts in now is commanding machines, and in installing them.

To be an expert in people you have to deal with people, and not as an equal. As an equal you get practise in just seeing them from their own point of view. This dont help. You have to be at a place above them to see their role in the organization and in the community and how well they are peforming their role. This however dont solve the problem of learning to be a leader without being in a leadership position already.  

How To Learn To Be A Leader

The best way, and the must way, is to be with a leader for some years. That will train you. 

If you cannot do that now then study the leaders of the type you want to become. It not have to be a political leader. 

Leaders are of various types: technicals, educators, business and politicals.

Remember that reading lots of books is not enough. You have to observe. You have to be with a leader to learn to be a leader. Books can give you depth but they cannot create the structure.

Who Should Choose A Leader

Reading till here you should be able to answer this yourself. Who should choose a leader?

Answer is: people who know, people who are experts. 

Who are the experts? This also you should be able to answer. These are people at the top. 

Putting two and two together, a leader have to come from top. Masses he is going to lead are not fit to choose him, for the same reason they need a leader at the first place. 

If there is a leader at the top then he would choose leaders a step or more below, and they will choose leaders for steps below them and so on till the last level.

Who Will Choose The Leader At The Top?

There have to be an advisory council at top that choose the top most leader. They should also be the only ones that could dispose him. 

Where Would The Advisory Council Come From?

Its first members would be chosen by the founder. Its subsequent members would be chosen by the council itself. 

Role of Founder

It all begins with the founder. He not only have to have the vision for knowing what to do, he also have to be able to choose his advisors correctly. Once this is done it can perpetuate.