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From the perspective of outside democracies it is almost laughable (or "cryable") to call the U.S. a democracy. Some of the most fundamental traits of an healt
by diego_moita 1y ago
From the perspective of outside democracies it is almost laughable (or "cryable") to call the U.S. a democracy.
Some of the most fundamental traits of an healthy democracy that the U.S. doesn't have:
* the US doesn't have real alternation in power: only 3 other democratic countries in the world have the same duopoly of political parties the US has: Japan, Mexico and South Korea. These 2 parties have an absolute control of the political process. Democrats have all the means to block the rise of any socialist or Green party. Republicans have all the means to block the rise of a Libertarian party. Healthy democracies are not like that; parties rise and fall according to the changes of worldviews.
* the US doesn't have real separation of powers: in a democracy the courts of law are supposed to work independently of the other branches. But in the US, judges are political agents loosely affiliated to the parties duopoly. They are elected to lower courts by party affiliations, with campaigns financed by the political parties. They rise in the courts' echelons by cultivating and nurturing this partisan loyalty. They are partisan agents in disguise. No other country practices this corruption of democracy principles.
* bribing politicians is legal in the US. It is called "campaign financing" and it is ok and stimulated. No other country in the world accepts that.
- HarHarVeryFunny 1y agoThe electoral college system and it's winner-takes-all implementation in most states means that the vast majority of US citizens are disenfranchized - they are given the illusion of voting with that vote in fact being used against them -majority wins all of state's electoral college votes. So, yes, the US is not a real democracy in any meaningful definition of the word. It's not far from Russia or other countries where you can also put a vote in the box, but that won't affect the outcome of the election.
- carefulfungi 1y agoA fair critique, at least of national US politics. State and local democracies, which are extremely impactful to education, housing, roads, and most services Americans touch day-to-day, are quite different from the national news and face different challenges. However, I think your comment on campaign donations is incorrect. Donations are allowed in many OECD countries. See for example https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/anti-corruption-and-integrity-outlook-2024_968587cd-en/full-report/component-9.html#chapter-d1e1782-b53ca616ea https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/anti-corruption-and-int....
- tzs 1y ago> bribing politicians is legal in the US. It is called "campaign financing" and it is ok and stimulated. No other country in the world accepts that. What exactly do you mean here? Looking up the limits on corporate and individual donations to political campaigns in several other countries it appears that many have looser limits than the US. For individual donations this includes the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, probably Brazil (the limit is based on the donor's previous year income), India, and South Korea. Several with looser limits on corporate donations include the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, and India. Where the US seems to stand out is in Super PACs. I didn't find anything really similar elsewhere.