RandomGuy

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Leonidas

I second this stament.

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War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling that thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety is a miserable creature, who has no chance at being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. -- John Stuart Mill--

"O xein angellein lakedaimoniois hoti tede keimetha tois keinon rhemasi peithomenoi"- Monument, Thermopylae

JMJ

Good thing America isn't a democracy.

Leonidas

Are you kidding? Its a golden example of the failure of democracy. Don't get me wrong, I love my country and will support it, right or wrong, but look around you, it's a posterchild for the failure of democracy. No more than any other democratic country, though.

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War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling that thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety is a miserable creature, who has no chance at being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. -- John Stuart Mill--

"O xein angellein lakedaimoniois hoti tede keimetha tois keinon rhemasi peithomenoi"- Monument, Thermopylae

KeithMann

Technically, it's a republic, but there's plenty of grey in that area.

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leejo

Right. And if the USA is a golden example of failure, then I'm curious to know what criteria one might use to define success.

Back on topic, funny law. Good to know Congress is looking out for us!

Diceman

I have to agree, in part, with leejo. Can you provide some elaboration on why you think that, Leonidas? JMJ, a few comments from you would also be helpful in deciphering your meaning...

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leejo

Just close your eyes, grit your teeth, and think of mother England: it gets easier.

JMJ

America is indeed a Republic, you should be thankful we aren't a Democracy.

http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/Am...ts/demrep.html

My guess is that 90%+ of Americans would wrongly call us a Democracy....we are a stupid country who is very misinformed

KeithMann

It's like Churchill said, democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried.

Personally, though, I prefer: "democracy is based on the principle that the common man knows what he wants and deserves to get it good and hard."

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CingularDuality

Democratic Republic: the people elect representatives to govern.

Democracy: the people govern themselves.

I don't know that it matters in this instance, though, as I think the American people would be too lazy to read the text of bills before voting, too.

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JMJ

That link I supplied describes America to a "T". The USA is the "Republic" in that link, we are not a Democracy.

JMJ

How many people have recited the pledge day in and day out in school? Kinda funny that most of them probably never picked up on this:

I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

ScratchMonkey

That can be dealt with by requiring that 50% of eligible voters approve a law, not just 50% of those who show up. Imagine trying to convince 50% of the electorate of anything.

At one time much of the US FedGov was elected in a very indirect way. The Prez is still elected by the electoral college, which is appointed by the States. At one time the Senators were appointed by the States. We're becoming more and more a direct democracy, because technology has made it possible. Remember that the country was founded when it took weeks for communication to move from one end of the country to the other. That's the real reason for needing representation. Now we might as well vote directly, but we need a compensating mechanism for introducing reasonable hysteresis, and a 50% rule like I propose could do that.

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Leonidas

I never said my country was a failure, on the contrary, it is the single most powerful and influential country on earth. It is simply a golden example as we are the second largest country on earth (Bigger than China, second to Russia) and the most powerful. No other democracy can compare to the scale of this one. Do not doubt my loyalty to my country, that is one spot where I am very defensive.

What criteria, you ask?

1. Well, it cannot be accepted that politicians are largely scumbags, for one thing. We openly admit that politics is the realm of the corrupt and the liars. How sad is that? Everyone knows its true, but its just normal, for some stupid reason.

2. We need to have more than a 00.01% voter turnout. The only way to make this happen when the average citizen has the attention span of a squirrel is to make it mandatory. If you are too lazy to decide who will run your country for four to eight years, than you are a sad example of what a citizen should be.

3. Make politics serious again. Take out the entertainment, the flashes and the music, make it nothing but ideas and...politics. Make it so that it is not a business, with people to be won over by oneliners, concerts and gimmics desinged to catch their squirrel-like attention. Make it real and sincere. An impossible feat, I know, but you asked what the criteria were.

I am sure that this list could be added onto, but I will not. That is my two cents. I simply do not have enough faith in "The People"(Who constantly reveal themselves to be cowardly half-wits) to belive in democracy.

Oh, and fun fact! America has been an empire since 1898! Indeed, our war with the spanish and its resulting gains in territory won us that status. A partial protectorate of Cuba(Which lasts to this day) and our acquisition of the PI along with others is what caused it. I do not know if we retain that status, though. Cool/Interesting, huh?

__________________
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling that thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety is a miserable creature, who has no chance at being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. -- John Stuart Mill--

"O xein angellein lakedaimoniois hoti tede keimetha tois keinon rhemasi peithomenoi"- Monument, Thermopylae