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Yes, the US founders opposed democracy; naturally, if the country were run by its population, the vast majority of whom aren't wealthy, they'd abolish debts, re

Yes, the US founders opposed democracy; naturally, if the country were run by its population, the vast majority of whom aren't wealthy, they'd abolish debts, redistribute land, etc. (http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s15.html http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch16s15....) Then Andrew Jackson used the term democracy as political marketing (probably had the same impact as calling yourself "anarchist"), and the US system co-opted it and rebranded itself as a democracy. Because people naturally would like to govern their lives, rather than political and wealthy elites. I recommend Graeber's _The Democracy Project_ for more on this; he's an anthropologist who helped found Occupy, and popularized the 99% slogan.

vixen99 13y ago
'if the country were run by its population, the vast majority of whom aren't wealthy, they'd abolish debts, redistribute land'. A crass assumption if I may say so.
- XorNot 13y ago
  When the vast majority of farmers who work the land are generally held in debt they consider unfair, yeah, they're going to do that. You're forgetting that the Free Silver movement was about exactly this - farmers trapped in debt due to a deflationary gold-backed dollar were agitating for the silver dollar which would be inflationary and thus allow them to escape it. Deny them that, and they're going to switch to something else - like taking a long hard look at what's considered "fair". You might also note that the modern US has exactly this concept - bankruptcy. It has consequences, but debt can in fact just disappear.
nabla9 13y ago
You are assuming that English and international use of the term democracy was developed by American and for America. That's not the case. The evolution of the use of the word happened in England and France. Frenchman Marquis d’Argenson (1694-1757) was first to define representative democracy in the way it's used today.

vixen99 13y ago

'if the country were run by its population, the vast majority of whom aren't wealthy, they'd abolish debts, redistribute land'. A crass assumption if I may say so.

XorNot 13y ago
When the vast majority of farmers who work the land are generally held in debt they consider unfair, yeah, they're going to do that. You're forgetting that the Free Silver movement was about exactly this - farmers trapped in debt due to a deflationary gold-backed dollar were agitating for the silver dollar which would be inflationary and thus allow them to escape it. Deny them that, and they're going to switch to something else - like taking a long hard look at what's considered "fair". You might also note that the modern US has exactly this concept - bankruptcy. It has consequences, but debt can in fact just disappear.

nabla9 13y ago

You are assuming that English and international use of the term democracy was developed by American and for America. That's not the case. The evolution of the use of the word happened in England and France. Frenchman Marquis d’Argenson (1694-1757) was first to define representative democracy in the way it's used today.