03-09-2008, 12:48 PM
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Site Moderator
Guru
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Indiana
Posts: 8,405
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Oligarchy... look it up sometime
Quote:
Originally Posted by Questerr
So Iran is a "practicing theocratic oligarchy" because the Ayatollah decides in the end who is going to be voted on for President.
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Actually, the Islamic Republic is a unique form of government where “Islamic” and “Republican” structures run parallel to each other. For example, while there is a president as the head of the executive branch, there is also a supreme leader as the head of state; similarly, regular courts are matched by revolutionary courts; the army by the revolutionary guards; there is an elected Majles (parliament) but also an appointed Guardian Council, which serves as the upper house of parliament; etc.
The fundamental concept of this Islamic government is modeled after Ayatollah Khomeini’s ideas the rule of the jurisprudent (velayat-e faqih). This means that the state is to be guided by a learned religious jurist who rules in the absence of the Twelfth Imam or messiah. Ayatollah Khomeini, endowed with unique popular and religious authority, headed the Islamic Republic as the first Supreme Leader up to his death in June of 1989.
Link:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...%3Den%26sa%3DN
The Supreme Leader is not elected by the population. Therefore the people have no voice in elections. Only those who are not eliminated can run in an election. The Supreme Leader is a lifetime position. They don't have to get re-elected. This makes them above being accountable to the people of the state.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Questerr
But here in the US the major corporations, unions, and life-long politicians do the same thing (read super-delagates) and you call it democracy?
Wouldn't that make us a "practicing capitalist oligarchy"?
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You should look up the meaning of the term before asking a question like this. The answer is no.
Why? Because anyone can run for President here. They don't even have to get the backing of any political party. No one eliminates a candidate except through the actual voting process on election day.
There is a difference between corporations, unions, and super-delegates (a Democrat invention) backing a candidate that everyone gets to vote on, and those same entities picking a candidate from outside the democratic process. To be technical, we are a representative republic... a subset of one of the styles or types of democracy.
People are free to run if they so choose here. People are given the freedom to vote for who ever they wish... even to write in a candidate that's not listed on the ballot. There is no supreme leader or government council that can eliminate candidates before they make it to an election ballot.
So, in answer to your question... no, this is not a practicing capitalist oligarchy. Not even close.
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Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV)
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