LogFAQs > #986660226

ssjevot posted...

The vibes thing isn't a trend. All the science has said most voting behavior is irrational for as long as it has existed. I can show you a book from over 100 years ago talking about this exact same shit then.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Opinion_(book)

We also have this quote (also from over 100 years ago):
As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
H.L. Mencken, On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe

It even goes back further than that. Ancient Greek authors like Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, etc (all rich men who were part of the leisure class and relied on enslaved labor to make their money) saw the common man voting and having political power as a bad thing, often citing things like the execution of Socrates or the Sicilian Expedition. In Ancient Athens every male citizen held political power, and while they didn't elect their officials via voting (since they saw it as an oligarchic institution), the citizen body voted on pretty much everything.

It's that disdain that made democracy a dirty word until very recently. The Founding Fathers of the United States saw democracy as a dangerous form of mob rule.