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> Freedom did not entail escaping from government rule but rather making it democratic. I don’t see how getting a fractional vote in choosing your oppressor ca
by donatj 6y ago
> Freedom did not entail escaping from government rule but rather making it democratic.
I don’t see how getting a fractional vote in choosing your oppressor can be equated with “freedom” by any means, just by the meaning of the word alone. This seems wholly absurd.
- taylorbuley 6y agoPerhaps explained through the lens of positive vs. negative view of liberty. "Freedom of" vs. "freedom from."
- readflaggedcomm 6y agoThey repeatedly compare democracy with absolute monarchies, not with ideal republics. That important context takes a back seat to current events, which makes the beginning very peculiar, but the book is likely better crafted.
- tehjoker 6y agoThe thing that is missing is that your interests are not completely atomic and isolated. You share most of your important political interests with many other people, forming a class. Making politics democratic means you can collaborate with your class to find common freedom. The near death of popular politics in America and its replacement with TV spectacle obscures this. Basically, your complaint is that your vote doesn't matter and that's a function of how deteriorated American democracy is, now best characterized as a plutocracy, that people think this way.
- totetsu 6y agoand a functioning democracy has many more consultations and participatory processes than just voting a fraction of an election result. its ongoing work.