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Iran gets trotted out as a strawman in these arguments, but its government is really quite democratic compared to many US allies which have the mere trappings o
by muricula 4y ago
Iran gets trotted out as a strawman in these arguments, but its government is really quite democratic compared to many US allies which have the mere trappings of democracy painted on a dictatorship. Iran has an elected president, and a parliament and multiple parties. As I understand it, the biggest issue with the government as a functioning democracy is that the unelected supreme council can prevent candidates from running and and dissolve parties. I don't mean to defend its actions against protestors right now, which I believe are heinous, and the government is lacking in respect for many human rights, but as a strawman for absolute dictatorship it's a very poor choice. Democracy is a spectrum, Iran is definitely on the spectrum, and if we Americans look in the mirror and think deeply about the structure of our government, we might find out that we're a lot closer to Iran on that spectrum than we were taught in school.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_Islamic_Republic_of_Iran https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_Islamic_Repu...
- ngcc_hk 4y agoIt is not a spectrum. USA and eu might be. But if someone above you can prevent your from running or electing then it is NOT democracy. Once you are free to do so then may I say no one promise heaven on earth. It is bad human and good in democracy. Sort it out. It is hard. But it is not the same as other sort it out for you.
- vidarh 4y agoBy your own definition, pretty much no countries, including the US, are democracies, as almost everywhere has mechanisms through which the courts can prevent you from running.
- hef19898 4y agoSeparation of power, judicative, legislative and executive, are the basic principal of democracies. The other being, fair, equal and secret elections.
- quickthrower2 4y agoBingo! Well you can’t have a perfect “pure” democracy but you want to try to get as close as possible. The court isn’t just a king who decides to veto.
- inglor 4y agoThe thing that makes Iran not a democracy is that all those bodies (parliament, president, parties) answer to the supreme leader and religious authority. It’s not a democracy if the elected bodies all answer to unelected ones.
- alasdair_ 4y ago> It’s not a democracy if the elected bodies all answer to unelected ones. Like the supreme court?
- inglor 4y agoThe Supreme Court of which country?
- johnnymorgan 4y ago
- acdha 4y agoConflating the two is either incredibly dishonest or a sign that you’ve been listening to people who are. This kind of flamebait doesn’t lead to the kind of discussions people want on HN.
- josefx 4y agoLuckily the courts don't answer to it and most of the crazy is contained.
- hef19898 4y agoFeeding the troll, but why not. Governments of EU countries are not subservent to the EU commision, they are the ones nominating commissars and confirmed by the elected EU parliament (as a full commission), in a process not unlike the Senate approval of, e.g. SCOTUS judges. And those individual governments are democratically elected as well.