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> What sort of democracy are we living in when the government can refuse to even say how it's interpreting its own law? That's not democracy at all. I really d

> What sort of democracy are we living in when the government can refuse to even say how it's interpreting its own law? That's not democracy at all. I really don't get his point here. Democracy has nothing to do with the legal structure of elected governments, nor does it have anything to do with the clarity of the legal system. Democracy is to do with every "citizen" having a fair and equal right to vote. Of which freedom of political expression, freedom of speech and freedom of the presses are considered essential tenets. The US is currently suffering Majority Rule in that the majority is shit scared of anything and everything, especially fellow human beings with head wear out of their traditional social or religious norms. This means the majority in the US is fully willing to sign away rights and freedoms for the mere assumption that they're "protected" by a piece of paper stored in the library of congress. I'd feel safer if we armed the clowns with shotguns, you know as a surprise attack thing.

hnhg 15y ago
My interpretation of democracy is that it needs a legal system that works, and I believe that means it has to be fair and transparent. If the fabric of a legal system is corrupt, what's the point of politics?
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
lhnn 15y ago
I understand your point that "Democracy" is roughly equivalent to universal sufferage, but the point is that a public unaware of the laws and interpretations thereof created by our government cannot make informed decisions about their leadership.
ugh 15y ago
Exactly. Citizens have to be able to inform themselves. Democracy wouldn’t make any sense otherwise.
- electromagnetic 15y ago
  With low voter turn outs in most nations I'd say citizens fail to inform themselves already, so democracy in its purest sense doesn't really make any sense anyway. Democracy presently relies on political parties alienating people from each others candidates and relying on attrition of the voter pool to get elected. Well the Republicans lost by 3% in key states, so we only have to reduce the Democrat voter turnout so lets run a stronger smear campaign. We recently had this in Canada with the Conservatives. They knew they could get a majority with only 44% of the popular vote (I'm not sure how that even works or makes sense to anyone that a minority of votes can give a majority government).
  - caf 15y ago
    (I'm not sure how that even works or makes sense to anyone that a minority of votes can give a majority government) Through the magic of single-member electorates and first-past-the-post voting.
mbell 15y ago
The USA is not a Democracy (in the pure sense), it is a Democratic Republic, this is a critical difference that is missed or not understood by the majority of the populous and is critically important not only in this instance but in the general case.
- gnaritas 15y ago
  The US is a democracy, a word that describes a category of governments one of which is our democratic republic and another of which is a direct democracy; both are types of democracies. Stop this we're not a democracy non-sense, it's absurd.

hnhg 15y ago

My interpretation of democracy is that it needs a legal system that works, and I believe that means it has to be fair and transparent. If the fabric of a legal system is corrupt, what's the point of politics?

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

lhnn 15y ago

I understand your point that "Democracy" is roughly equivalent to universal sufferage, but the point is that a public unaware of the laws and interpretations thereof created by our government cannot make informed decisions about their leadership.

ugh 15y ago

Exactly. Citizens have to be able to inform themselves. Democracy wouldn’t make any sense otherwise.

electromagnetic 15y ago
With low voter turn outs in most nations I'd say citizens fail to inform themselves already, so democracy in its purest sense doesn't really make any sense anyway. Democracy presently relies on political parties alienating people from each others candidates and relying on attrition of the voter pool to get elected. Well the Republicans lost by 3% in key states, so we only have to reduce the Democrat voter turnout so lets run a stronger smear campaign. We recently had this in Canada with the Conservatives. They knew they could get a majority with only 44% of the popular vote (I'm not sure how that even works or makes sense to anyone that a minority of votes can give a majority government).
- caf 15y ago
  (I'm not sure how that even works or makes sense to anyone that a minority of votes can give a majority government) Through the magic of single-member electorates and first-past-the-post voting.

mbell 15y ago

The USA is not a Democracy (in the pure sense), it is a Democratic Republic, this is a critical difference that is missed or not understood by the majority of the populous and is critically important not only in this instance but in the general case.

gnaritas 15y ago
The US is a democracy, a word that describes a category of governments one of which is our democratic republic and another of which is a direct democracy; both are types of democracies. Stop this we're not a democracy non-sense, it's absurd.