Democracy

Was watching the movie called "Sunshine" yesterday. Plot goes something as follows:
"The sun is dying and consequently so is Earth. A team of astronauts go with the mission of reviving the sun but unfortunately fail. Seven years later, another team sets out as Earth's last hope."

There was this scene where a mission critical decision was to be made. One person suggested a show of hands in order to make that decision but he was easily silenced and the decision was instead entrusted to the person who had the maximum knowledge on the subject. Logical, isn't it? No arguments - Just let the right person take the decision.

Why do we have this thing called Parliament? Why do people discuss for hours on a topic / bill that they haven't investigated, spent little time / effort on? Why should it be voted on by 500+ members of the house? Why can't decisions be made for the greater good knowing fully well that everybody cannot be satisfied?

Won't it be better if we had an authoritarian government? It seems so. Read the following article:

http://webmerchants.com/spectrum/bubble.htm

I think it echoes my sentiments pretty well. And I find Singapore ("Land of Illegal Chewing Gum") pretty fascinating to read about. Should experience it soon as well.. Bring on the first F1 night race in '08... :-)