4 ms·
Why do you consider the US a good example of liberal democracy, what with its signifiant democratic deficiency problems? The newspapers, the TV channels and we
by impossiblefork 4y ago
Why do you consider the US a good example of liberal democracy, what with its signifiant democratic deficiency problems?
The newspapers, the TV channels and web forums are heavily influenced by advertisers and companies, to the degree that this allows them to censor material they see as undesirable. On top of that you have a two-party system.
Then there's the fact the US is militarily aggressive-- the Iraq war is legally (i.e. UN charter-wise) very similar to the Ukraine war and the US has had secret torture prisons in Poland, Romania and some other eastern European countries.
Is that really liberal democracy for you, enough to make the US the liberal democracy?
- nine_k 4y agoUSA may be not the most democratic state on Earth (hard to beat Switzerland), but it's undeniably more democratic and free than the current mainland China state.
- impossiblefork 4y agoYes, I meant my comment in an absolute sense. It was not intended to be a comparison with China, just that I feel that the US is not a good example of a liberal democracy. I like the US constitutional amendment preventing the government from making laws abridging freedom of speech though. It's, at least in part, stronger than what we have in Europe, so there are ways in which the US has very good laws democracy-wise, but I'm not sure it's quite enough.
- salamo 4y agoI don't think the question of whether the US is in fact a liberal democracy is central to my argument. If you see the US as more autocratic, the same line of reasoning applies: won't AI simply tend to exacerbate all of the problems you've mentioned?
- impossiblefork 4y agoCertainly, and having reread the argument, I can't say that it's unreasonable.