Santa?

Would you prefer to live in a democracy or a dictatorship (run by Santa?)

Max Smith (KS3) of Avalon said...

The word 'dictatorship' has many bad connotations. When we think of a dictator, we think of someone like Hitler, but in reality all it means is that the one person makes all the decisions without any sort of vote from the people. Father Christmas is always viewed as a kind figure, so it would likely be a benign dictatorship. But, as they say, power corrupts.
Also, democracy isn't perfect by a long-shot. The minority don't get their opinions heard, although at least it pleases the majority. And there are plenty of bad decisions made by our government (a democracy). The increase in tuition fees didn't go well. The main problem is that democracy benefits one group of people. The Labour Party attempts to help the ‘lower’ class (with the NHS, benefits, ect.) while the Conservative party attempt to help the ‘upper’ classes. Either way, one group loses out.
So, all in all, I don't mind either of them.

Theo Patten (KS4) of Avalon said...

“Well before you can decide you must first consider the choices, with the advantages and disadvantages of each;

A democracy can be a very good thing as it allows everyone to be equal and everyone, over a certain age and mental state, to vote for their elected government. Also the voting system can be a way to shake off the criticism if the government is doing a particularly bad job, as they will say if you didn’t vote it was your fault that the government is how it is. But also democracy can have its downsides the main issue is the time it takes to solve a crisis, as they have to discuss it and then vote on the best way to act in each circumstance. Also some countries like to think democracy is a good thing and want to convert the world. This is happening as we speak in Afghanistan. They have been run by a dictatorship for many years and feel that it has worked for long enough so why should it change. But also we can look to the past for problems with democracies for example the Weimar Republic which took power of Germany in 1919. But they had much opposition as before Germany was lead by the Kaiser. The German people led uprisings until Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor. So democracy isn’t all shining glory.

The other side to this question was a dictatorship led by Father Christmas which is incredibly funny to even think about but I shall try, I struggle to understand how he could rule the world from Lapland because he couldn’t have overseas parties as he is dictator and full controller/leader of the world. Dictatorship is sometimes quite a good thing especially in time of crisis, this is because the dictator doesn’t have to discuss the problem to anyone else or explain he ways of dealing with it. He only has to think of an idea and demand it done. I think Father Christmas would make every day Christmas which would ruin the whole feel of Christmas and not make it a very exciting time, and in fact people may celebrate their own day which would be a day without Christmas. But on the other hand he may not want to have Christmas day everyday as it may overwork his elves, and a tired elf isn’t a nice elf. Also if we ate mince pies everyday with a full Christmas lunch we would be incredibly fat and would struggle to do our daily jobs and thus would lose out on thousands of pounds and in the end Santa would become bankrupt. Also it isn’t fair on other religions as some don’t celebrate Christmas such as Muslims and if Father Christmas ran the world, and it was Christmas everyday it would be discriminating towards their religion. Also it would ruin the whole reason for Christmas which is the birth of Jesus Christ, and thus it wouldn’t be the real Christmas every day as it wasn’t Jesus’ birthday every day. For all these reasons a Dictatorship with Santa wouldn’t be good.

So all things considered I would prefer the democracy because the dictatorship with Santa would cause uproars with people’s beliefs, ruin the feel of Christmas, the real message of Christmas and would cause world economic troubles. A democracy brings equality to the world...supposedly.”

Matthew Brinicombe (sixth form winner) of Avalon, said...

“Democracy has many down fallings, one of which is that people often do not know what is best for themselves or others around them, they do not see their own shortcomings and therefore cannot operate with an open mind meaning that the decisions many people make for themselves may not be the best decision for them.

Additionally people naturally do not agree with each other making a democracy a system of companies and stalling leaving a system that does not work at a high speed and may not make the 'best' possible decision due to a number of people choosing stubbornly or unwisely.

Father Christmas on the other hand is very organised and evidently gets things done quickly for example; he can deliver presents to every good child on Christmas night. He is also very decisive to split children into groups of naughty and nice.

Evidently Santa has the potential to work magic in a political domain and I would personally choose for him to rule over all with his jolly nature and system of rewarding those who do good but I believe Santa himself may not want to take up the throne to rule for a few simple reasons.

He needs all year to recover from his Christmas travels and help with the preparations for next year’s Christmas. A political job on the side would detract from that and he would be distracted in both due to the others looming presence. Additionally if Father Christmas ruled he would have to take a break at Christmas times leaving us open to chaos or abandon his other responsibilities completely in order to lead.

So over all I think father Christmas would be the ideal dictator but I do not think he would be willing or even able to take up the offer.”