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Thanks for your comment.

I was surprised to see Forsyth writing for such a low brow publication such as the Express.

It all boils down to the divide with roots in Ancient Greece, doesn’t it?

I wonder if people here have read “The Open Society and Its Enemies” by Popper.

Should the people have the right to govern themselves, or should the people be governed by philosopher kings (EU bureaucrats)

It’s been a long time since I read the book, but if I remember correctly Popper came down on the side of liberal democracy comparing it to science. It allows a government to try different things, but the society can reject the hypothesis as it were.

Personally as an addendum to the debate...

I feel the sort system of ethics you have is important. If a benevolent non-democratic government gave the most happiness to the most ammount of people, aka utilitarian ethics, would that be preferable to liberty and a free society.

Now most empirical evidence seems to suggest democracies do work the best, but we don’t have centuries of data to analyze.

But, in my experience a lot of people only vote for their own pocket book, hence the scaremongering in this referendum has been effective, especially on younger people. They would sacrifice liberty for short term economic gain.

ok, enough rambling.

Good to see you Scaniaboy :)

Good to talk to you again: :-)

Yes, you are right, Popper certainly came down on the side of non-elite governance. He, just like Friedrich Hayek, understood that the philosopher kings would not be kings for very long - ie the difficulty to gather/understand all the information needed to rule society at large would make the rational governing of our societies impossible.

Instead Adam Smith's hidden hand was much more effective than an ever so enlightened elite. Yes, the individual may make bad, shortsighted choices (see discussions on this thread about “bread and circuses”), but then again the “enlightened elite” very rarely remains enlightened for very long.

Our unelected EU commissars (commissioners) serve as a prime example. What policy have they ever instituted that has been effective and proper?