Has Democracy Exhausted Itself?

Each speaker was allocated 7 minutes, though some were so concise that there was still time for questions from the in-person audience and of course the "experts'" answers. The event moderator was Inga Spriņģe, known to the wider public as the head of the Baltic investigative journalism centre Re:Baltica.

Democracy HAS Exhausted Itself, because:

Rasmuss Filips Geks, billed as the experienced debater

- the future belongs to hybrid democracy, i.e. democracy+;
- the relationship between democracy and money. Money opens up possibilities that would not exist without it.

Ivars Ījabs, political scientist

- Jānis Akurāters: "Vision", "To a Young Person"

Anete Konste, publicist

- there is economic success also where there is no democracy. For example, in China, Singapore, and Ventspils.
- Voting rights for the intelligent; for the rest - lottery tickets (by analogy with N. Ušakovs's "Rīdzinieks cards")

Democracy Has NOT Exhausted Itself, because:

Dārta Zaķe, billed as the experienced debater

- we can (afford to) call police officers fascists, and that is the precondition for their not being such;

Iveta Ratinīka, poet and literature teacher

- democracy is: ... also the man with two wives, ready to teach you how to love one;
- democracy is a matter of style, it is an excellent opportunity to avoid taking responsibility;
- democracy is every person's opportunity to share as much nonsense as they are capable of.

Rūdolfs Kugrēns, comedian

- better 100 small blotches than one big blotch;
- Miks (always) goes for beer because... the majority decided so;