Ship of State

I have just finished reading Zakaria's book The Future of Freedom. The book posits that too much democracy is counterproductive. That demagoguery and populism, although they can be very democratic, if left unchecked will lead to tyranny. There has to be some check on democracy in order for democracy to be sustainable. An example used is the unelected court system which has the power to curtail laws that are democratically made but that are anti-democratic. Zakaria believes that referenda are recipes for disaster. A referendum leaves longterm decisions susceptible to short term manipulation of public opinion. In the short term you can create a mob; in the longterm that mob will be self-destructive.

Doesn't sailing provide an excellent example of liberal authoritarianism? I believe that on any boat there is only one skipper and if you are not happy with that then don't sail on that boat! The boat owner is the skipper, that is easy. When I am on a friend's boat, they are the skipper (and when they are on my boat I am the skipper). It's easy for boat owners to accept this. However for non boat owners and for club boats it is more problematic. When I am on Dragon Lady, the club mark boat, Allan is the skipper and I am crew. 'Fair' or 'nice' is irrelevant.

Of course Captain Bligh was not a successful skipper. The successful skipper must be liberal. Everyone must be treated with respect. Each individual must be able to voice their concerns. The skipper should know what the skill level of the crew is. The skipper should know how much a crew member wants to be challenged. The skipper would know not to go out in 20 knots and try to fly the spinnaker with a novice crew. You should not teach people how to sail during a race. A skipper should always be attuned to the needs of the crew and be able to react to those needs in a positive way (but not necessarily in the way the crew member desires). A successful skipper knows that a successful boat means a happy crew. Bad skippers don't go sailing as crews mutiny by simply not going on the boat. (By the way I think that good skippers are able to 'avoid' certain crew! Oh I guess you can not do that with society at large.)

Edmund Bourke believed that a Member of Parliament was elected to provide reasoned judgment. He was not there to parrot the views of his constituents. In a sense when a crew member joins a boat they are 'electing' a skipper. They are willing to allow the skipper to make reasonable judgments about navigating. One skipper per boat proves that there is merit to having a liberal authoritarian!