democracy

Let's make a checklist of what Trumpand the GOP will do to centralize power and turn the USA into a managed-Democracy, like Russia. 1. Censor the media 2. Change election laws in such a way that opposition parties will never win. 3. Weaponise the judicial system and DOJ to investigate and...

My class and I are studying the ancient Greeks. If the Persians had won, I'm of the opinion democracy would have sprung up somewhere else, eventually, but maybe not. Thoughts?

Is Robert Reich a serious guy? American democracy is a sham. You have ended up with something nobody would have voted for. This proves it.

I keep seeing Athens credited with basically inventing democracy and all that is good and western, and lately I've begun to wonder if that's deserved. At a surperficial view, it is: Athens went democracy around the middle of the 6'th century BCE, while for example Rome went republic by the end...

On another thread, in the USA Politics forum, Sez replied to another poster who said they wouldn't vote in the 2012 elections: "Here" is the Arlington Cemetery, which is where US servicemen and women are buried. Do you think that people should vote if they can? If you are allowed to vote in...

Hi. I saw this: http://politics.slashdot.org/story/12/03/05/1348203/scientists-say-people-arent-smart-enough-for-democracy-to-flourish?sdsrc=popbyweek (original article HERE: http://news.yahoo.com/people-arent-smart-enough-democracy-flourish-scientists-185601411.html, and the guys who did...

Right, This one could be tricky, but I'm having trouble when reading quite a few threads on the US politics forum. Discussions around gun control, healthcare and a myriad other topics all seem to end up focussing on whether something is constitutional or not. My question is this: Why does it...

What I hadn't thought of before today is that the opponents of gay marriage are making a deep assumption: that the matter can be solved by a simple majority vote. The assumption, it seems, runs something like this: Living in a democracy means that the majority rules, even simple majorities that...

Hi everybody. I've been dwelling upon this thought now for some time and it won't go away. I'm not being provocative, just curious. Democracy started around the 1770s right? France, the United States. We've come a long way in the past 200 years or so. Electricity, transportation systems...

A courageous and seemingly influential Chinese general has urged his country's leadership to become more liberal and adopt an American-style system. http://www.theage.com.au/world/chinese-general-backs-the-american-dream-20100811-11zsr.html Is this a positive sign of things to come, or a...

I've often thought it would be good if we (the populace of a modern state) voted on issues, relatively often (even kind of continuously), instead of what we do now, which is every four or five years having an expensive and largely meaningless festival of lies, advertising and ego projection that...

It has been alleged for years that the erradication of hemp from the US was a plot hatched by US robber barrons. I believe there is much credible evidence for this. Here's a nice start. Any comments? Thanks http://www.tpuc.org/content/marijuana-conspiracy "They say marijuana is dangerous. pot...

Some time ago, during our voting period, I saw some streetinterviews where people were asked what political party they were going to vote for and why. It turned out many people didn't have a clue what plans their favourite political party actually had. Although I don't have scientific data on...

I was surprised that someone in this forum insisted that The United States is a democracy. I corrected him and told him that the United States is a Representative Republic and not a democracy. I was even more shocked when he insisted that a republic is just another name for a democracy. The...

I was drawn into a debate about this topic with a group of volunteers I sometimes work with on drug policy issues. I am curious to hear others thoughts on the question. This came up as we are organizing opposition to Canada's bill C-15 which is a bill to amend the controlled substances act...

Much is made of the need to advance democracy or bring democracy to populations that do not have it. It is my view that among some other minimum requirements no citizens should be discriminated against by law on the basis of their race, religion, ethnic group, or gender. Is is generally...

I've been thinking about the local political situation (which I wont bore you with here) and trying to come up with what the key ingredients are for a healthy democracy. I'm hoping you will post what you think is key for a healthy, stable democracy. I'll start the list off by adding a free...

Hey guys, For my politics class soapbox speech, I choose the topic "There cannot be a democracy without large scale private enterprise." and I figured that I would probably end up forgetting some important points that would be raised in a lively discussion on here. I'd consider it a libertarian...

... except for when we don't. I am surprised that there are people who claim to support free markets. Yet when the swing comes and the chickens come to roost on bad debt, what do they do? They blame the government and then ask for a bailout. The market is adjusting to something, I wonder why...

The other night, I heard Mitt Romney reiterate that old saw: It's not the government that makes our country great, it's the people who make it great. The American people are our strength. I say, hogwash. Now, I'm not one of those "America is the greatest nation ever" kind of people. There's...

Since I'm heavily campaigning for Dr. No, I thought it might be a good idea to learn a little bit more about that funny thing called "the United States Constitution". Fortunately I found a series of Videos in which a guy actually explains all the nasty officialese in it. So if you don't...

In the USA, it seems that you elect a lot of people, such as the chief of police, or the state prosecutor, or so on, which in the UK would be either an appointment made by politicians, or a result of climbing the career ladder, or a combination of both. I also get the impression that this...

which system is more unhealthy....? compare the US democratic and the Italian democratic system.... the US model is set up to ensure a two party system - basically if ur not a democrat or a republican you've no chance..... the Italian model is a multi-party free-for-all - with an absolute...

In Democracy: You pay tons of taxes and spend hours filling out archaic forms. You vote on issues to affect a faraway state Your representatives pander to rich interest groups and spend tax money on nice sports cars You are only allowed to say things insofar they don't offend innocent...

Didn't we conclude in some threads here that Hitler was not elected but appointed? Not to mention that the opposition was being assassinated as he rose to power. So, what is Rumsfeld trying to say here? This line is used very offen when talking about unsavory, elected foreign officials.

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Democracy has broken out in the UK! After long years of darkness, our MPs (well half of them) have finally decided to do what they are bloody well paid for- defend our freedoms from the government: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4664398.stm The amendment was...

Maybe some of you are already here but I have become convinced that conservative and fundamental Islam are simply incompatible with democracy and that any country that contains a majority of potential voters who adhere to these forms of Islam will always vote their rights away and if nothing...

In the "beating of homeless tread" which had already become hopelessly derailed I asked if, in a democratic society, whether the political climate shaped society, or if society set its own political climate. Can Thatcher be blamed for making the UK population selfish, Can Blair be blamed for...

and for how much treasure and lives (on both sides)? And this charmer that should have been dealt with long ago... They really aren't like us. What a mess and still importing oil and no end in sight.

Iran Steps Back to the Future Linda Heard, sierra12th@yahoo.co.uk “As I was saying, isn’t democracy wonderful?’ joyfully exclaims a caricature resembling Condi Rice in yesterday’s Guardian. On the left of Martin’s Rowson’s version of the US secretary of state is an explosion...