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Old 12-09-2004, 02:11 PM
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Default USA land of the free?

I thought about this for a while. Actually the US is not a democracy! A two party system can never be democratic, especially when those two parties have a lot of similarities.

For instance. What party does one vote for, if one wants an immediate pullout of troops from Iraq?

Easy! There is no such party!

The US basically offers two parties with almost the same views and you get to pick one. Hooray!

In order to have a true democracy one has to have a broad choice of political parties.

The US is basically just a dictatorship, where people can have a bit saying in some trivial issues like stam-cell research, or gay marriage. Woooooo, big deal.

Basically, your state does not offer choice on a numerous of policy areas.

US=North Korea!
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Old 12-09-2004, 02:22 PM
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Default ~

What country are you from?

I don't like shooting in the dark so let me know who I should target.
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Old 12-09-2004, 02:27 PM
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Quote:
I thought about this for a while. Actually the US is not a democracy! A two party system can never be democratic, especially when those two parties have a lot of similarities.
Hmmm....repeating these definitions is getting tedious.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dictionary.Com
de·moc·ra·cy n. pl. de·moc·ra·cies

1. Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
2. A political or social unit that has such a government.
3. The common people, considered as the primary source of political power.
Majority rule.
4. The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community.

- http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=democracy -
I'll be (*)(*)(*)(*)ed if I can find any mention in there of a minimum or maximum number of parties. Perhaps you have an alternative definitions?

For the record, the US has dozens (maybe hundreds) of parties. Anyone can vote for any party...you can even write-in yourself. I am sorry Captain, but you really should educate yourself on the American political system before making statements like this.

The parties reflect the opinions of the vast majority of Americans. Isnt that what they are supposed to do?

Quote:
The US basically offers two parties with almost the same views and you get to pick one. Hooray!
Please post your evidence that citizens are only allowed to choose candidates from those two parties.

Quote:
In order to have a true democracy one has to have a broad choice of political parties.
We have that. You can even make up your own party. People do it all the time. Major parties include the Libertarians, Green Party, and several flavors of the American Communist Party.

Quote:
The US is basically just a dictatorship, where people can have a bit saying in some trivial issues like stam-cell research, or gay marriage. Woooooo, big deal.
As far as I know, Dictators dont allow people to elect replacements for them...
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Old 12-09-2004, 06:01 PM
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Default Actually

Actually you are right Captain Socialist we aren't a democracy never have been we are a Federal Republic. Also the US dosen't equal North Korea in fact the US is a very rare nation. If you want something close to North Korea i would look at China......
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Old 12-09-2004, 09:38 PM
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Actually you are right Captain Socialist we aren't a democracy never have been we are a Federal Republic



what are smart people doing in this forum??? Rational people this is scary
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Old 12-09-2004, 09:50 PM
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Default A better argument

Hmm I hate to break it to you but a Federal Republic is a form of democracy. Its like saying an iron-fisted despot is not a dictator.

As much as I hate war i must admit that leaving after doing all the destruction is a stupid idea. After all the major bombing to civilian buildings it can only get better reputationwise for America.

A democratic election with more than 2 major parties is sort of silly. In Australia we have a few national parties so every few elections the minor parties hold the balance of power in the senate since the 2 big parties are roughly even. Even worse is when rather than a minor party taking control is when an independant is in control. So that independant basically decides whether a controversial law passes or not.

Besides having minor parties holding the balance of power it is also impractical for Joe Blow to know the political stance of every party. Heck quite a few people in Australia supporting Labor (or Liberals defamating Labor) say that Labor just wants more funding for public schools and less for private schools. As a matter of fact Labor just wants to divert funds from the largest privates to all other schools, which is almost the same but not quite.



A much better argument against any democracy being not quite a true democracy is that the people's voice is not heard. Democracy is based on people going to their local representative and askign them to put forth a view in parliament, which is ludicrous since they rarely do it since representatives often have to tow the party line. In the end lobby groups such as the NRA win out since they have massive power in proportion to actual numbers.
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Old 12-10-2004, 04:13 AM
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Default Actually, a constitutional republic is NOT the same

as a straight democracy.

Democracy, in it's strictest sense, means the rule of the majority. In the U.S., the will of the majority can be trumped by the ideals of our founding documents.

So, any law passed by the representatives of the people is subject to a litmus test to determine if it meets the standards of our federal constitution and bill of rights.

These documents can trump any law. In a true democracy, nothing overrules the will of the majority.

But, I don't know why anyone wastes much time bothering with this stupid teenage troll.

Catz
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Old 12-10-2004, 07:14 AM
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Default .

You guys are all wrong. The two party system actually functions as a filter to many political ideas that both the Democrats and the Republicans want anything to do with. You see, basically every vote on another party is a vote thrown away. That is something that most Americans are aware off, so they will limit them selves to these two.

So for most Americans, there are only two realistic options. Either Republicans or the Democrats and since they offer quite the same package, you guys have to pick the lesser of two evils. And that my American friends, is not democracy. And that is what a lot of Americans that voted said. They picked the lesser of two evils.

This is not democracy. In a true democracy a lot of parties are represented and also a lot of different political views. Socialist views, Christian democratic views, conservative views, and liberal views. Also they all stand a chance of success (in mainland Europe this is the case), since they started out with a lot of parties. The US however stated with two parties.
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Old 12-10-2004, 07:25 AM
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The two party system actually functions as a filter to many political ideas that both the Democrats and the Republicans want anything to do with.
For once, I agree with you.
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Old 12-10-2004, 07:29 AM
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Originally Posted by EuP";p=&quot View Post
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The two party system actually functions as a filter to many political ideas that both the Democrats and the Republicans want anything to do with.
For once, I agree with you.
Tanx for your honesty.
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