Eric X. Li: A tale of two political systems
This TED talk is a much more compelling discussion of the issue of democracy's value.
Yes, I can put some holes in his presentation.
A great deal of China's proportionally massive figures just have to do with its proportionally massive population.
It's lack of development part allows for growth that is not so accessible to first world democracies that have already plateaued. But
He provides no actual evidence that the current trajectory is sustainable.
And anything he cites about popular satisfaction is essentially useless because China is a propaganda driven state.
But in spite of all of that, he still makes a case that demands a response from anyone who considers themselves a serious and realistic advocate
of democracy.
My points above cannot completely dismiss China's successes, which they allegedly should not be experiencing with their system.
His point about the PRCs radical history of reform is essentially true.
And notice how the audience, who I imagine were quite uncomfortable with much of this presentation, still broke out into applause when Li said that he's not sure if democracies do represent their people anymore.
That last point is the most unnerving. If there's one thing a democratic system is supposed to do, if
nothing else, isn't it supposed to tie the government's concerns with the peoples' concerns? If democracy fails that, it fails essentially.
Now, I am not deciding the reject democracy (and it's interesting how one of Li's main points is not to reject democracy but to suggests there will never been a panacea government), but I have given a lot of thought to how democracy as it is currently practiced must fundamentally change to become legitimate again.
Naturally, it's one of the hardest problems in political science and I don't feel I have an answer. As it is, I am leaning toward some scheming of maximally informing the populace and doing everything possible to exclude the electoral influence of anything other than the informed vote (like corporate cash). We'll see if I can flesh it out into anything more practically detailed some day.