3 ms·

Democracy is when you drop a ballot every two/four years, and the elected officers ignore you while they take millions of donation from wealthy donors. Dictator

by chabska 1mo ago

Democracy is when you drop a ballot every two/four years, and the elected officers ignore you while they take millions of donation from wealthy donors. Dictatorship is when the unelected representatives work their ass off to better the lives of the average citizens, because they're afraid of a revolution. (P.S.: Xi Jin Ping is as unelected as the British Prime Minister, but I don't see people calling the UK a dictatorship.)

pjc50 1mo ago
The UK PM change happened indirectly as a result of poor performance in the local elections. It does actually matter that the UK has multiple parties that effectively compete, even if some of them are blatantly sockpuppets for overseas millionaires.
Lio 1mo ago
That's because in the time since Xi took over China there's been 7 different UK Prime Ministers, most of whom were kicked out of office before their term ended. In that same period Xi has changed the rules so that he can hold on to power indefinitely.
- chabska 1mo ago
  Why are we using British PM count like it means anything. Meanwhile, Angela Merkel served longer as Kanzler than Xi has served as President. Is Germany a dictatorship? (Neither Britain nor Germany have term limits for their head of government, so China removing its term limit is just bringing it at par with the two most prominent European democracies)
  - Lio 1mo ago
    The point is that PM count proves it was possible for other people to remove serving PMs from power. They were not able to ignore public opinion indefinitely and could be removed from power without the need for term limits. No one can remove Xi from power if they don't like the way he performs. No one in China can even publicly discuss his performance except to praise him. That's what makes China a dictatorship and the UK a democracy.
deleted 1mo ago
[deleted]
Nursie 1mo ago
> Xi Jin Ping is as unelected as the British Prime Minister The British PM was elected, what on earth are you talking about? He won an election to his seat in Parliament just a few weeks ago.
- implements 1mo ago
  “Has no personal mandate from the entire electorate” - I suspect they mean. But that’s not necessary or expected under the British system, being an MP and Party Leader is enough. If Burnham radically departed from Labour’s manifesto you could then argue he call a general election to establish legitimacy for that, but it isn’t required.
- chabska 1mo ago
  He was not elected by the general public to the position of Prime Minister. He was elected, by a small number of UK citizens in his constituency, to the Parliament seat. British law doesn't even require the Prime Minister to be an MP, technically Parliament could elect any random bozo from the street to be PM.
leonidasrup 1mo ago
The two-term limit for president of China and vice president of China have be eliminated been abolished in 2018. Now President Xi Jinping can rule for life. "Deng Xiaoping put the limits in place in the 1980s as part of his effort to ensure that China was never again subjected to a crushing dictatorship like that of Chairman Mao and the turmoil it occasioned. China’s Communist system not accepting the Western notion of formal checks and balances, Deng instituted a system with Chinese characteristics designed to prevent return of one-man rule or a cult of personality by preventing leaders from staying indefinitely in power." https://www.brookings.edu/articles/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-lifting-term-limits-for-xi-jinping/ https://www.brookings.edu/articles/7-things-you-need-to-know... Similar in Russia, 2020 constitutional amendment gave Vladimir Putin legal authority to stay in office until 2036. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_limits_in_Russia#Russia_under_Vladimir_Putin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_limits_in_Russia#Russia_u...
- chabska 1mo ago
  There's no term limit for the British Prime Minister and Germany Kanzler. What do you think about that?

by chabska 1mo ago

pjc50 1mo ago

The UK PM change happened indirectly as a result of poor performance in the local elections. It does actually matter that the UK has multiple parties that effectively compete, even if some of them are blatantly sockpuppets for overseas millionaires.

Lio 1mo ago

That's because in the time since Xi took over China there's been 7 different UK Prime Ministers, most of whom were kicked out of office before their term ended. In that same period Xi has changed the rules so that he can hold on to power indefinitely.

chabska 1mo ago
Why are we using British PM count like it means anything. Meanwhile, Angela Merkel served longer as Kanzler than Xi has served as President. Is Germany a dictatorship? (Neither Britain nor Germany have term limits for their head of government, so China removing its term limit is just bringing it at par with the two most prominent European democracies)
- Lio 1mo ago
  The point is that PM count proves it was possible for other people to remove serving PMs from power. They were not able to ignore public opinion indefinitely and could be removed from power without the need for term limits. No one can remove Xi from power if they don't like the way he performs. No one in China can even publicly discuss his performance except to praise him. That's what makes China a dictatorship and the UK a democracy.

deleted 1mo ago

[deleted]

Nursie 1mo ago

> Xi Jin Ping is as unelected as the British Prime Minister The British PM was elected, what on earth are you talking about? He won an election to his seat in Parliament just a few weeks ago.

implements 1mo ago
“Has no personal mandate from the entire electorate” - I suspect they mean. But that’s not necessary or expected under the British system, being an MP and Party Leader is enough. If Burnham radically departed from Labour’s manifesto you could then argue he call a general election to establish legitimacy for that, but it isn’t required.
chabska 1mo ago
He was not elected by the general public to the position of Prime Minister. He was elected, by a small number of UK citizens in his constituency, to the Parliament seat. British law doesn't even require the Prime Minister to be an MP, technically Parliament could elect any random bozo from the street to be PM.

leonidasrup 1mo ago

The two-term limit for president of China and vice president of China have be eliminated been abolished in 2018. Now President Xi Jinping can rule for life. "Deng Xiaoping put the limits in place in the 1980s as part of his effort to ensure that China was never again subjected to a crushing dictatorship like that of Chairman Mao and the turmoil it occasioned. China’s Communist system not accepting the Western notion of formal checks and balances, Deng instituted a system with Chinese characteristics designed to prevent return of one-man rule or a cult of personality by preventing leaders from staying indefinitely in power." https://www.brookings.edu/articles/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-lifting-term-limits-for-xi-jinping/ https://www.brookings.edu/articles/7-things-you-need-to-know... Similar in Russia, 2020 constitutional amendment gave Vladimir Putin legal authority to stay in office until 2036. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_limits_in_Russia#Russia_under_Vladimir_Putin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_limits_in_Russia#Russia_u...

chabska 1mo ago
There's no term limit for the British Prime Minister and Germany Kanzler. What do you think about that?