Originally Posted by
emmanuel2012 
What this boils down to is that I don't trust society. Democracy is not all that great, because even if you have it working as its supposed to, the majority is still making decisions for me. I think the majority of people are generally uneducated and cannot think for themselves.
Adding to this, I think many people ‘think’ and act out of deep rooted animal instincts and impulses, as humans are in fact, animals,. I think this is too often overlooked: we ‘claim’ to be such an intelligent and advanced species, and yet the rates or violent crime, war, famine and disease continue unabated, despite our having the means to prevent them. I think a lot of our behavior is not so much guided by carefully laid plans, well thought out courses of action, but moment to moment decisions, made in the present, and linked to the most primal emotions and drives: fear, survival, hunger, sex, thirst, and so forth. Even the very well educated seem unable to escape these: Indeed, if one is hungry and lacking shelter, it is doubtful they will have the ability and means to be very well educated.
The world, to me, is largely a mess, and any form of government seems frightening in some or other way. As you say, in a democracy, what if the majority is misguided, cruel or dumb? What is there to protect the rights of the minority? I have always scoffed at the US and it’s idea of being free: Free from what, exactly? And what would absolute ‘freedom’ even look like? As time goes on, it is harder and harder to say: though I am happy not to live in a regime such as China or Iran, to be certain.
H. Pup