No, they aren't. Britain had its own anti-monarchichal revolution 150 years BEFORE the French Revolution. Unlike Romania or Russia. Britain, remember, is the world's oldest democracy. I know they are. As I said. there's more to music than opera. - - - Updated - - - No, it isn't the point. I was told that there have been no great British painters, so I provided a list of great British painters to show that that claim is nothing but ludicrous.
Ok. So you suggest western critiques & academics quote them more than Dante's Divine Comedy for example? Anti-monarchical movements & revolutions and beliefs in republics have existed since antiquity. Think of the Roman Republic or the Greek democratic model. Didn't say it had. Yet the Romanian states have been throughout the Middle Ages & the Renaissance up until 1878 satellites or official provinces of the Russian/Austrian/Ottoman empires so democracy didn't get much chance to shape in its own national way here. Though as soon as independence and unification came, the most democratic model available on earth was adopted. The complete form came in 1919 at the end of WWI when the Kingdom concluded the war as a victor together with the allies. But then communism came by force in all Eastern Europe after 1945. Elections after the war were faked directly by Stalin. How about the Roman Empire? During the Republic (and not only) it had a two-chamber modern parliament with a small government that was very accountable to it, just like today's Britain and with a modern-day constitution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Republic Maybe you have a few words to say on the Greek type of democracy that was both in practice and in its thinkers' writings, at a time when the English nation didn't even exist, much less had an alphabet... maybe not even the Saxons or the Angles existed back then and if they did they were just small tribes.
Dont bother with Vlad. He is a nasty spoiled little child with rich parents who paid for him to go to teh UK to study but who upset when a British girl didnt want to go out with him so he hates everything British and pretends he is terrified of the UK police. best just ignored
Yes, I believe that. A lot more people have read those books than have read Dante's Divine Comedy. I'm pointing out the often mistaken belief that the French were somehow first in beheading an Absolute Monarch and that it was THEY who invented Constitutional Monarchy. The fact is that the British executed Absolute Monarch King Charles I in 1649 - 150 years BEFORE the French Revolution - and that event, coupled with the 1688 Glorious Revolution, allowed Britain to enjoy Constitutional Monarchy long before the French supposedly introduced it to the world during their own Revolution many years later. The Roman Empire doesn't exist today, so it isn't the world's oldest democracy. Greece was a dictatorship a few times between 1821 and 1974, unlike Britain which was a democracy all those years. Greece's current democracy is not yet 40 years old. So Greece is NOT an older democracy than Britain. No country is. Britain is the oldest democracy in the world today.
1. Nonsense 2. Nobody in Germany would describe Germany as a world power. -> If Germany orders Malaysia a regime change, it will provoke such statements. Just as the UK when they try to play global superpower!
I'd be a bit careful about calling Britain an "old" democracy. The fact is that as a proper, functioning democracy it just sneaks in around about the late 19th Century and if you include universal suffrage then it gets the guernsey in 1928. After the notion that the parliament has primacy was established Britain did not have a fully functioning democracy. It was still ruled by an elite class and parliament served the interests of that elite class until it was forced, over stages, to finally allow for universal suffrage.
And the death penalty (by hanging) was formally abolished in 1998... this medieval type of execution in the UK was last carried out in 1964!!!
That's ironic considering your country is still afraid of witches http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/09/12/15325496.html Actually quite a few people are in favour of the death penalty. Personally I think that life imprisonment is far better. Anyway what does this have to do with democracy?
Witches? You gotta make a distinction between state law and some people's beliefs. Anyway in a democracy people are free to believe what they want... and given that it is a significant phenomenon it could be a good idea to VAT tax it. Anyway the majority of the parliament didn't pass the law. Actually quite a few people are in favour of the death penalty. Personally I think that life imprisonment is far better. Hanging is painful and very much against modern day human rights.
I have. But the fact your countries government still believes that this is something to fear is ridiculous and you vote for these people. No it's not. Your neck snaps and that's it in fact that's why it was the method of choice. And again what do human rights have to do with democracy?
You mean the parliament not the government. Anyway it was only a minority of parliamentarians who came up with it. But you get those fortunetellers and so called 'astrologists', people with 'special powers' and visions and so on all over the western world. American papers are full of psychics and people who advertise they can communicate with ghosts. UK is no exception and there's no shortage of UK TV shows dedicated to paranormal phenomena. If the rope is long enough... But then if the person is thin it might not break properly so it becomes torture and if fat, the head would likely be ripped apart; quite a thrill since science has evidence the brain remains conscious for a few seconds after decapitation. Beautiful scene and a lot of blood to clean up. Nothing like the elegant electric chair that Americans came up with as early as the 19th century, with alternative current and a helmet with a wet sponge on the inside that sent the current into the brain at the speed of light with the convict losing consciousness instantly. How can democracy exist without the convict's rights?
The interesting opinion. But cant say that this is close to the truth. Germany takes one of the leading positions in EU - the fact. p.s. The actual relationship between US and UK. [video=youtube;u-9FCTbKF2o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-9FCTbKF2o[/video]
Really funny - but the general loathsomeness of the view of life portrayed does remind me that even under thatcher , Bliar or the ghastly Carlo, life in these islands will still be preferable to life in barbarism.
Well parliament is the legislative branch of government. For the purposes of this discussion it's a moot point. I was not saying that people are backward for believing in fortune tellers. What I meant was that for public representatives to actually take the threat of a curse seriously they'd have to have to odd ideas. That's why such an execution was taken seriously in order to ensure nothing like that happens. Even violent criminals can be spared some simple dignity. Hmm. I'm not that familiar with the electric chair. But you've already mentioned places where that can go wrong like not wetting the sponge for example. Because democracy is about voter rights not human rights. It is entirely possible for a democracy to trample the rights of men as easily as a dictatorship can. To quote Mather Byles "Which is better - to be ruled by one tyrant three thousand miles away or by three thousand tyrants one mile away?"
Did I?? When? Where? The second option seems better as 3000 might rival with each other and need support against the others so I can side with one while an absolute one is an absolute one. Just like in communism. Oh no!! Jesus Christ!
I guess this is why a party like the National Front is legal in the UK unlike other places in Europe. Because legislators accept the possibility that one day people might and should decide that some races are superior over others.
Like I said both systems can infringe upon individual rights with ease. If you're reliant upon internal rivalry then eventually you'll invite discord and fractured government and potentially civil war. Hmm well communist regimes vary. E.g. Yugoslavia was different in it's rule from say Vietnam. The latter of which is a very successful communist country.
It's called free speech which is an essential civil liberty. And ultimately if the majority of people want to vote a far right party into power then that's democracy for you.
Rivalry as you like to call it, or competition is what keeps a balance in things. No competitors mean you go to any standards you like, low or high. Don't know much about Vietnam but think of the many that were not successful. There is a great difference between knowing the state is into fake advertising and knowing it is into fake advertising at gun point of your head. In capitalism at least the government does not kill its people. In capitalism at least you're free not to pay attention to whatever you dislike and to support campaigns of what you like.
