We had a lunch lecture where this environmental scientist gave a talk about critical materials and how big of a problem our reliance on these are. He links the whole thing up with politics pretty well, explaining how various political actors are involved and benefit from this or that.
At some point, he even mentions how in the netherlands, policy doesn't get passed without a buy-in from industry. It means quite a lot, cause this guy is government hired in recommending policies.
Then he contradicts himself in the next paragraph by saying that this is the curse of democracy that people make stupid decisions.
I ask this guy about the contradiction. How you simultaneously harp about profits over needs, the evils of consultancy firms, and the inability of the Dutch government to do anything but pursue corporate interests, while also talking about the problems of "democracy"?
He just tells me "we are a democracy that's why the Dutch government listens to industry". Well not exactly that, but at least that's the message I get when he talks about all the corporate controlled parties winning the elections and how that's what the people chose.
Dude is this close to realising that the definition of liberal democracy is "legitimised rule by corporations" .
Of course, the lecture ends with a book recommendation for a book about the collapse of human civilisation. And a recommendation to go vote and participate in political parties.
Unlimited death upon elections.
AES systems also have voting. It's just that they vote for local elections rather than national elections (which are elected by representatives from below).
Basically, AES systems have multiple layers of the electoral college, but the "electors" aren't just a formality like in America, and instead are your local reps. (This is assuming I didn't misinterpret something).
The "deontological" vs "consequentialist" divide here is, kind of non-existent ...
The real divide between AES states and capitalist states is the mode of production. The differences in electoral systems, while it exists, can be thought of as
Historical: Most AES systems are adapted from the soviet union where the local Soviets (councils) had formed the basis of the revolution.
Economic: liberal parliamentarianism of the type in europe is the political form most preferred by the bourgeoise. The bourgeoise only cohere as a class when they can assemble in sufficient numbers, aka at the national (or international) level. Direct elections at the national level allows the whole of the bourgeois class to easily dominate the country simply by manipulating elections (an art that has long since been turned into science).