5 ms·

Probably why government around the world like lockdown so much.

• hh3k0 6y ago
  You are aware that the vast majority of countries are democracies, right?
  • matz1 6y ago
    Yes, lockdown gives them the power to be little totalitarian.
    • hh3k0 6y ago
      Sorry, but you make no sense.
      • toomim 6y ago
        The lockdown gave leaders emergency authorization to make decisions without waiting for votes. In other words, leaders got authorization to bypass democracy.
        • triceratops 6y ago
          Do governments put every single decision they make to a general vote? You're confusing representative democracy with direct democracy. How many countries postponed or cancelled elections due to the pandemic? Only those would be considered to have "bypassed democracy".
          • tharkun__ 6y ago
            You mean like the German state of Thuringia? https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/corona-pandemie-thueringen-verschiebt-landtagswahl-17146574.html https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/corona-pandemie-thuering...
            • triceratops 6y ago
              It's in German, I don't know what that says. Assuming it says "Thuringia postponed elections" I guess sure, lockdowns in Thuringia past the term of the existing government were not democratic. That is, if Germany has statewide Covid restrictions, rather than national ones.
              • tharkun__ 6y ago
                Forgive me but Google Translate Exists (and not everything is reported internationally :) And yes Germany is a weird mix of state and federal responsibilities and authority (sorta like the US just different). States are responsible for schools for example. But now Merkel wants to close _all_ schools in all of Germany. Some states object and want to keep them open. Bavaria introduced a requirement to wear FFP2 masks now, while no other state does etc.
  • mikem170 6y ago
    Was there even one government that let their citizens vote on quarantine measures? That's what democracy is, or originally was, right?
    • triceratops 6y ago
      Here's a list of elections that occurred in 2020: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elections_in_2020 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elections_in_2020 If voters disagreed with quarantine measures, they were free to vote those governments out. In general, people in representative democracies don't vote on every single government decision. Voters elect representatives who vote on issues. I don't see why temporary health restrictions due to a pandemic would be any different.
      • mikem170 6y ago
        In the U.S. the president at the moment got to decide how we'd respond to the pandemic as it happened. Lots of people disagreed. They got to vote in a new president, but that one vote is for a whole basket of issues. Not exactly a referendum on the pandemic, more like a decision on which faction/ideology will be in control of the federal government until the next election. Calling the pandemic response a democratic decision seems like a bit of a stretch to me. I'm sure the situation is the same in many of the elections that you linked, most countries are republics, not democracies. Admittedly I wonder about the modern use of the word "democracy" being used to legitimize what was supposed to be a republic, was never meant to be a real democracy, and has drifted into being a plutocracy.
        • triceratops 6y ago
          > In the U.S. the president at the moment got to decide how we'd respond to the pandemic as it happened. Lots of people disagreed. This is the case for every single decision that any election official makes. The general public doesn't vote on individual laws, unless you live in Switzerland. Calling quarantine measures "not democratic" is dishonest for this reason.