Democracy, and how the US can push to become one.

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I started this thread because while many people like saying that the US is a democracy, it isn't. Let's talk about what democracy is, what it means, and the benefits and consequences of a true democracy. How close can we be to a democracy without it being a failed system?

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Type: Discussion • Score: 2 • Views: 8,914 • Replies: 127

@tony5732,

Are you a seventh-grade Civics teacher?

1 Reply

@George,

George wrote:

Are you a seventh-grade Civics teacher?

Sometimes it seems more like we're dealing with a seventh-grader.

1 Reply

You guys don't want to be part of the discussion, fine. But why be disruptive?

The US will never be an actual Democracy because too many people are uninformed of what they would be voting for or against. Basically they are too stupid to be relied upon to be part of an actual Democracy.

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@maporsche,

Actually, some of her/his responses made me to remember when I learnt about it in school.

We didn't have 'civics', so it was done in 'history', 'philosophy', 'social sciences' and 'Latin'. On different levels, from the 8th onwards. (We had 13 grades in those days.)

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@McGentrix,

McGentrix wrote:

The US will never be an actual Democracy because too many people are uninformed of what they would be voting for or against. Basically they are too stupid to be relied upon to be part of an actual Democracy.

I think that's true for many countries .... but it's part of democracy.

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@Walter Hinteler,

Walter Hinteler wrote:

McGentrix wrote:
The US will never be an actual Democracy because too many people are uninformed of what they would be voting for or against. Basically they are too stupid to be relied upon to be part of an actual Democracy.
I think that's true for many countries .... but it's part of democracy.

Also the reason that no "real" Democracy exists.

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@McGentrix,

McGentrix wrote:

Also the reason that no "real" Democracy exists.

A pure democracy has never existed.

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@McGentrix,

I agree. I think we can get a lot closer than we are right now though. Why shouldn't people get more of a say on issues like abortion, gay rights, religious freedoms, gun rights, etc? This isn't even education stuff, this is moral stuff. This is our country's conscience that is being decided by a few people, some voted on, some not.

Let's start there.

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@tony5732,

I had had the opportunity once to watch direct democracy, in the Swiss canton Appenzell Inner Rhodes, the Landsgemeinde ("Cantonal assembly"). They still do it ... that state has only 16,000 inhabitants, and women have only voting rights there since 1991 (on local issues, otherwise since 1971).

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Democracy is mob rule is disguise - it has no place in America.

1 Reply

@Walter Hinteler,

Sounds cool! What's the issue with it?

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You should define your terms first.

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@Frugal1,

Well, what's wrong with mob? Who understands the mob better than the mob

1 Reply

@tony5732,

Mob rule is how lynchings happen...

Mob rule is how Sharia suddenly becomes law of the land...

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It's more "democratic" than any other description.

Quote:

de·moc·ra·cy
[dəˈmäkrəsē]

NOUN
a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives:
"capitalism and democracy are ascendant in the third world"
synonyms: representative government · elective government · [more]

a state governed by a democracy:
"a multiparty democracy"
control of an organization or group by the majority of its members:
"the intended extension of industrial democracy"
the practice or principles of social equality:
"demands for greater democracy"

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America Is Not A Democracy, Stop Pretending It Is.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aindr/america-is-not-a-democrac_b_442963.html

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The US is Not a Democracy and Never Was

http://www.truth-out.org/speakout/item/20258-the-us-is-not-a-democracy-and-never-was

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America is a Constitutional Republic . . . NOT a Democracy

http://www.stopthenorthamericanunion.com/NotDemocracy.html

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@tony5732,

The last I checked, The United States of America was a Constitutional Federal Republic. It hasn't claimed to be a democracy.

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Democracy, and how the US can push to become one.

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