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These are excellent suggestions. I've been wishing for some kind of "made in democracy" stamp, or a "produced humanly" if that would also shut out other more mo

These are excellent suggestions. I've been wishing for some kind of "made in democracy" stamp, or a "produced humanly" if that would also shut out other more moderate manufacturing centres, similar to fair trade chocolate. https://www.fairtradeamerica.org/shop-fairtrade/fairtrade-products/chocolate/ https://www.fairtradeamerica.org/shop-fairtrade/fairtrade-pr...

yial 6y ago
This doesn’t quite answer all of your needs, but you can find quite a lot of goods through Ten Thousand Villages Or through The fair trade federation and their list of suppliers. Disclosure: I work for a non profit tied to Ten Thousand Villages and I also sit on the board of a fair trade organization.
gus_massa 6y ago
> "made in democracy" Many countries have a fake democracy cover. Even Hitler won an election with like the 99% of the votes (I wonder if the other 1% survived for too long.) Also, does this label apply to the United Kingdom or Canada?
- Lio 6y ago
  > Also, does this label apply to the United Kingdom or Canada? Why would it not? It's not like the head of state wields power in a parliamentary democracy. We cut the head off the last monarch to try that 1649, more than 100 years before either the French or US revolutions.
  - adventured 6y ago
    Why is the Queen involved at all in regards to Parliament? The spectacle with Boris Johnson and the Queen was quite a sad joke on supposed British democracy. So long as the Queen (royal family) has any political capabilities, Britain is a partial democracy at best. Realistically they're still a mixture of monarchy and democracy, as they have been for a long time. Although people certainly likely to pretend the royal family has no tangible role or political power (because they want to pretend to be a modern democracy, while retaining the monarchy which they culturally have affection for; which is another way of saying they want to have their cake and eat it too).
    - Lio 6y ago
      Our democracy is evolved not designed by a politician. So it might not make sense if your not interested in pragmatic solutions. The queen is NOT involved in the running of state. The affairs of state are managed for her. She’s is reminded of this every opening of parliament when the door is slammed shut in the face of her representative, Black Rod. This bargain has been the basis of a stable and democratic form of government for 371 years. I see no advantage in having an elected “figure head” for head of state if they wield no power.
  - jessaustin 6y ago
    Gough Whitlam would not agree.
    - Lio 6y ago
      That’s the beauty of living in a democracy; he’s welcome to his own opinion and if wants to change things he can campaign for it. Edit: ...although it looks like he’s dead so wouldn’t expect much in the way of speeches eh.
      - jessaustin 6y ago
        The Queen's viceroy dismissed him as elected prime minister in 1975.
- NationalPark 6y ago
  That's not the case. The Nazi party won only 37% of the vote in the last arguably free election (1932). They also didn't win a majority in the 1933 election, which the Communists were barred from and which was post-Reichstag fire and suspension of civil liberties.
- propertymagnate 6y ago
  So my main worry was the possible controversy over what some consider pseudo-democracies, like Russia or outright not democracies but generally considered within the tolerable realm of citizen freedoms, like Vietnam, but I think your instant response over the UK and Canada indicates that a "made in democracy" would be tricky and that it would possibly have to be a more neutral term. The intent would be a feelgood symbol manufacturers could attach to their products that would essentially give them a very slight competitive marketing edge - like the fair trade symbol, or the regionalities for cheese and wine, or the nintendo seal of approval, etc. This would be run through some kind of tiny registration fee for the symbol, which would then fund the central body of a few people checking the supply chains, dealing with the applications, and sorting out the advertising/branding. If anyone has good ideas about this, post here. If anyone wants the idea and wants to do it, do it.

yial 6y ago

This doesn’t quite answer all of your needs, but you can find quite a lot of goods through Ten Thousand Villages Or through The fair trade federation and their list of suppliers. Disclosure: I work for a non profit tied to Ten Thousand Villages and I also sit on the board of a fair trade organization.

gus_massa 6y ago

> "made in democracy" Many countries have a fake democracy cover. Even Hitler won an election with like the 99% of the votes (I wonder if the other 1% survived for too long.) Also, does this label apply to the United Kingdom or Canada?

Lio 6y ago
> Also, does this label apply to the United Kingdom or Canada? Why would it not? It's not like the head of state wields power in a parliamentary democracy. We cut the head off the last monarch to try that 1649, more than 100 years before either the French or US revolutions.
- adventured 6y ago
  Why is the Queen involved at all in regards to Parliament? The spectacle with Boris Johnson and the Queen was quite a sad joke on supposed British democracy. So long as the Queen (royal family) has any political capabilities, Britain is a partial democracy at best. Realistically they're still a mixture of monarchy and democracy, as they have been for a long time. Although people certainly likely to pretend the royal family has no tangible role or political power (because they want to pretend to be a modern democracy, while retaining the monarchy which they culturally have affection for; which is another way of saying they want to have their cake and eat it too).
  - Lio 6y ago
    Our democracy is evolved not designed by a politician. So it might not make sense if your not interested in pragmatic solutions. The queen is NOT involved in the running of state. The affairs of state are managed for her. She’s is reminded of this every opening of parliament when the door is slammed shut in the face of her representative, Black Rod. This bargain has been the basis of a stable and democratic form of government for 371 years. I see no advantage in having an elected “figure head” for head of state if they wield no power.
- jessaustin 6y ago
  Gough Whitlam would not agree.
  - Lio 6y ago
    That’s the beauty of living in a democracy; he’s welcome to his own opinion and if wants to change things he can campaign for it. Edit: ...although it looks like he’s dead so wouldn’t expect much in the way of speeches eh.
    - jessaustin 6y ago
      The Queen's viceroy dismissed him as elected prime minister in 1975.
NationalPark 6y ago
That's not the case. The Nazi party won only 37% of the vote in the last arguably free election (1932). They also didn't win a majority in the 1933 election, which the Communists were barred from and which was post-Reichstag fire and suspension of civil liberties.
propertymagnate 6y ago
So my main worry was the possible controversy over what some consider pseudo-democracies, like Russia or outright not democracies but generally considered within the tolerable realm of citizen freedoms, like Vietnam, but I think your instant response over the UK and Canada indicates that a "made in democracy" would be tricky and that it would possibly have to be a more neutral term. The intent would be a feelgood symbol manufacturers could attach to their products that would essentially give them a very slight competitive marketing edge - like the fair trade symbol, or the regionalities for cheese and wine, or the nintendo seal of approval, etc. This would be run through some kind of tiny registration fee for the symbol, which would then fund the central body of a few people checking the supply chains, dealing with the applications, and sorting out the advertising/branding. If anyone has good ideas about this, post here. If anyone wants the idea and wants to do it, do it.