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'Democracy' and 'republic' are not mutually exclusive concepts. The US has a democratic|representative|constitutional|federal republic. It's quite disturbing t
by mijkal 6y ago
'Democracy' and 'republic' are not mutually exclusive concepts. The US has a democratic|representative|constitutional|federal republic.
It's quite disturbing to see an uptick in this claim in the recent years, as if democracy in principle is not American and ought be discarded in favor of a more illiberal system of governance.
(Also, the pledge is not law, so it's a curious reference to cite as some authority on the matter.)
- onethought 6y agoUS is a pretty bad implementation of democracy. - Non compulsory voting - first past the post - superpacs - the electoral college All contribute to an oligarchy, not a democracy. The US system seems to be designed to “feel” like a democracy while actually preserving the power of moneyed interests and land owners. It’s crazy to me that the UK has less if an oligarchy despite still having a monarchy.
- chaostheory 6y agoThis is the best short description of what the US and other Western governments are today. My only thing that puzzles me is why traditional authoritarian governments haven't copied them yet
- onethought 6y agoIt's mostly the US... New Zealand, Taiwan, Australia do it much better. Of course the media is still an impressive machine of control (see Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent), but again even the media is a little bit better outside the US.