What is democracy?

A democracy should include mostly "reasonable" people and "rational" people. Let me describe: (1/x) https://twitter.com/bruce_lambert/status/1299463063578574848

"Reasonable" people are people who all agree that there could be multiple differing ideas and that through agreed upon rules like voting, a decision is reached and everyone is ok with it til the next election. (2/x)

"Rational" people primarily vote their self-interest. This is not a bad thing since self-interest includes care for family, community, and so on. A rational person knows that a rising tide lifts all ships.

What is happening now is we have a system where neither side is "reasonable". There are hints that neither side will concede an election. To me, this is not "reasonable" and is a SERIOUS step towards democratic collapse. Are they "rational"? ... (4/x)

To determine if they are rational: remove the people and discuss the "ism". What is "Trumpism"? What is "Bidenism"? And are there other choices? I will describe both and happy to be corrected since both philosophies have some roots in common (5/x)

"Trumpism", if I interpret correctly, is isolationaist and limited govt. It means: a) US shouldn't police the world. b) US should focus on US first. So no tariffs, limited immigration. c) govt departments are mostly useless (borrowed from libertarianism) d) low taxes

"Obamaism"/Bidenism is: a) friendships betw countries create prosperity b) the world is a "community" and the wealthy (us) must do their part c) increased social services mean higher taxes d) govt can influence in some sectors better than private individuals (6/x)

These are both very reasonable philosophies. If you throw in stuff like "biden is a socialist" or "trump is a nazi" those statements simply aren't true and have no basis in the philosophies I just described . But if you say... (7/x)

If you say "that's just politics" and use that to justify voting, then you lose me. The way we make lies seem sane is what got us into this situation. If voting perpetuates a constantly declining system (look at the history) then the rational choice is to not vote. And.. (8/x)

A "non vote" is a vote towards making things more rational and reasonable BUT ONLY IF you use that non-vote to clearly state beliefs about the system and why one wouldn't vote. Instead, I see people on both sides afraid to express opinions. (end).