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The USA were a democracy while slavery was still legal.

• Kristine1975 11y ago
  And while only white men had the right to vote. In other words: They claimed to be a democracy, but they weren't.
  • nickff 11y ago
    The right to vote has always been restricted in various ways, and continues to be. In all Western countries, voters must be citizens who have reached the age of majority; these are artificial rules created to achieve utilitarian ends (much like restricting voting rights to landowners, racial groups, or genders). The fact that voting is restricted does not mean the country is undemocratic.
    • Cyph0n 11y ago
      Restricting by age makes sense. Myanmar is doing the same, but based on ethnicity, race, and religion. That is clearly not democratic.
      • icebraining 11y ago
        Makes sense to whom? Clearly not to the people who want to vote but are prohibited. And I'm sure many in Myanmar will be quick to explain why it makes sense to restrict based on those factors.
        • Cyph0n 11y ago
          I understand your "objective" and theoretical approach to this issue, but please don't belittle what many people are going through.
          • icebraining 11y ago
            Do you often evade points by falsely accusing others of downplaying the persecution of minorities, or was this time an exception?
            • dang 11y ago
              Personal attacks are not allowed on HN. Please keep comments civil and substantive, even when someone else has taken an unfair jab.
              • icebraining 11y ago
                Fair enough, I apologize.
    • outlace 11y ago
      But it brings up a broader point of democracies are more like a gradient of democracy where a "true" democracy could never be achieved (i.e. all citizens eligible to vote). Even China for example, could just be on an extreme end of democracy in which just members of the National Peoples Congress are eligible to vote. This is better than a dictatorship in which only one person can "vote." At what point does a nation become a democracy? When 51% of the citizens can vote? When 70% can vote?
      • nickff 11y ago
        Selectorate theory (as described by Bruce Buena de Mesquita) is one of the most powerful tools for analysing the spectrum of democracy, and it even encompasses so-called dictatorships.[1] It describes the impact of the number of people who make up the body which selects the country's government, which is a spectrum (as you correctly pointed out). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selectorate_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selectorate_theory
    • Kristine1975 11y ago
      >The fact that voting is restricted does not mean the country is undemocratic. Actually it kind of does.
  • adventured 11y ago
    They didn't claim to be a Democracy. They installed a Constitutional Republic. There are important differences between the two. The founding fathers were largely against actual Democracy, direct voting, and so on. That's why they set the Federal Government up the way they did, instead of having the people directly vote on everything.
• deleted 11y ago
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