Continuing this series on how various forms of government are all doomed to fail, this discussion will continue with capitalism and a splash of democracy.

Despite being a huge patriot and loving capitalism and democracy, I often put aside that blind love and realize that while I do adore this system at times, it is very flawed. The reason it fails is very similar to the ones in the previous articles. While they may not be carbon copies, the sources are very much alike. Each form of government is ultimately thwarted by human nature—how humans are in general.

Let us think back to why government exists in the first place; It is to control a set of people so that there may be order, because the masses are not able to conduct things in an orderly manner. They need their hand held by those in power so that the system moves smoothly. We eventually shifted from this absolute monarchy, which will be discussed in the next installment, to democracy. We are all familiar with this one, aren’t we? We elect someone to make our choices for us based on their platform, because we think that they will make the best decisions for us. Where is the problem here? Democracy assumes that all voters are of sound mind and are capable of reasonably choosing the right champion for the community. Sadly, this is just not the case with not only our voting populace, but voters in other countries around the world.

The majority of people in the world are just not properly educated enough to make decisions that affect an entire country. While there are things in place to act as buffers between foolish voters and the actual elections, such as an electoral college, there are still risks in trusting uneducated masses to vote. This also assumes that people will be complacent with the outcome and that they will band together as fellow countrymen. As many can see, that is not the case for our mainly bipartisan nation. Political mechanisms based on assumptions of human nature cannot work.

Now you may be wondering about capitalism. Democracy may be flawed, but what about capitalism—another system that our country is based on. Well sadly, this is another flawed mechanism. Capitalism, however, relies on assumptions of conditions. Capitalism is indeed a great cornucopia of opportunity, if the conditions in the working environment are the same. There are many conditions that affect success, ranging from stratification based on physical attributes, economic status, location, population size, etc. There are simply too many conditions that can hinder the success of a person for it to work to the fullest effect. Capitalism can only work if there are equal opportunities. While there have been many strides concerning these conditions, there is still a long way to go.