An interesting article was recently posted by theLocal.se that "support for democracy is weak among Sweden's youngsters" which made me wondering if any other form of government would be an improvement. The main consensus seems to be that an aristocracy would be able to deal with this age's issues better than our current political oriented government. Politicians are too focused on their public image, remaining in position, and keeping their donators satisfied. The education of politicians is also something that in a democracy is never put into question. I mentioned in an earlier blog that we do not hold our state's rulers to the same standards as we do of our surgeons. A nice quote from Douglas Adams to summarise this states: "it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. "
When it comes to forming a government under an aristocracy on merit numerous challenges will need to be overcome. The first and most basic one is who gets to decide which academics are suitable to act as governing person. If it is not done through a vote it can be done through a test, but than who makes the test? There will always be some form of judging committee that eventually needs to make a decision on this topics and understanding human nature it will be sought to be influenced immediately.
The second issue is which topics or fields have a seat at the table. Without doubt will the artistic field be a huge question whether a country deems it as necessary. Or a field like philosophy do some people see as vital and others as mere overthinking. If the importance of the fields could be voted on then the choice of expert would be justified. But I am without doubt that this can turn back into a democratic form of what we have now where politicians frame their party into a field.
Even with these obvious challenges do I still have the small suspicion that eventually we will cycle through different political structures, and of all options, aristocracy, in a technological age, is the obvious choice. Perhaps nothing but a fad now, but I would be interested in a thorough case study especially on political science students whether this is more exploring alternatives or a vision for the future.