There's also a saying that "Democracy cannot exist while people are hungry", because a common complaint is that "poor people vote with their stomachs".

[–] coffeebiscuit@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

And rich people with their wallet.

[–] Cabunach@lemm.ee -5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't see what makes these things incapable of being present at the same time as democracy.

Seems like these statements are based on feelings, not actual reasoning.

[–] FaeDrifter@midwest.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Let me use an example. Let's say you're my partner, and it's movie night. I give you a choice between two movies: Star Wars, and Harry Potter. However, if you choose Harry Potter for movie night, I will actually break both your hands with a sledgehammer.

I say I'm giving you a choice, but do you actually have a fair choice?

[–] Cabunach@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don't see how that's an adequate example.

It seems like you're making a bad attempt at a caricature instead of actually explaining.

[–] desconectado@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

People choose policies that might be beneficial in the short term, but very harmful on the long way. For example, restricting immigration might have a favourable short term impact on wages, but in the long term it will stagnate the economy and pensions schemes, and make people even more poor.

So... People who are hungry will vote for whatever brings food to their table today, so they don't really have a choice, because those policies or politicians are not actually on their side, they are just benefiting from the misery of others.

[–] FaeDrifter@midwest.social 2 points 1 year ago

Not even a caricature because getting your hands broken is actually still not as bad as starving to death.