The US is a democracy. True or False. Explain.

The United States was a democracy from 1965 until 2004.

In 1965 all citizens given the right to vote.

In 2004 voting machines made votes worthless.

United States is not a true democracy. It is a constitutional republic.

I was going to give the semantics argument but decided against it.

Drusilla:

In 2004 voting machines made votes worthless.

. Thats funny.

What are the chances of voting machines all around the country having failures that went in favor of the republicans 95+ percent of the times?

That is just not possible, if they are only simple computer errors. The errors should have favored democrats and republicans.

That's right Drusilla:

America practices representative democracy, but is actually a republic (I reserve my comments on the "constitutional" part of your answer though ).

Remember, even the pledge of allegiance states ", and to the Republic for which it stands, "

Expect another one tomorrow guys

That was Afeni.

Kinda Good news. They said on the news the other day, that because there were so many disasters with the voting machines.

21 to 26 states have newly required a paper ballot or print out.

Any system where you've got to jump through countless hoops to register to vote cannot be called a democracy, especially when the number and size of these hoops differs greatly between people.

nferyn:

Any system where you've got to jump through countless hoops to register to vote cannot be called a democracy, especially when the number and size of these hoops differs greatly between people.

Agreed.

To hear me tell it, however, the lines are blurring; oligarchy and plutarchy comes to mind. In media rhetoric we have a democracy, on paper a republic, but the fact of the matter points to corporate governance. Add to that the fact that most of these personalities who influence public policy by means other than voting, are also "represented" in the goverments of many other countries around the world. I fear that only time will be able to tell us what kind of government this is. Hopefully, it won't be by sifting thru the ashes, still smothering. . .

@all

I light of your somewhat reasonable arguments, can you give an example of a country practicing true democracy?

@nferyn

Is your government practicing true democracy?

mrlawng:

@nferyn

Is your government practicing true democracy?

Difficult to answer. I would say that up to a certain level we have a democratic society. Actually more democratic than most so called democratic societies, but still, the process of representation (with this I mean how you get from the needs, opinions and wants of the population to policy) inevitably leads to a distortion between (I'll use french here because I can't find the appropriate english words) le pays reel (the real country, how it is on the ground) and le pays léGAL (the legal country, how it is represented in it's institutions).

Now why do I think it is more democratic than most countries (here I explicitely want to compare with the US):
1. reasonable level of subsidiarity (although incomplete) and division of powers/authority between the levels of governance (local, regional, national). Taxation levels and our social security system ensure that there is a fair level of redistribution of wealth from rich to poor. All schools receive equal funding, as this is not depending on the tax base of a certain community
2. every citizen is obliged to vote, even if it's only by showing up at the voting booth (this ensures a real representation of the lower classes)
3. election day is always on a sunday (ensuring that employers cannot pressure their employees not to vote)
4. we have a proportional representation (both left and right wing are represented in parliament)
5. money cannot buy you elections: all parties are financed by the state according to their level of representation. Soft money (campaign contributions of any kind) are illegal. Election propaganda spending is capped.

I could ad a few more, but these are the most important. Unfortunately, even that does not prevent the overall level of stupidity, bigotry and ignorance to show up in the ellection results

nferyn:

Now why do I think it is more democratic than most countries (here I explicitely want to compare with the US):

How similar are the various european governments. Similar to belgian's enough for you to comment on them in a half way competant manner? How does beligian's constitution describe itself? Also,

nferyn:

1. reasonable level of subsidiarity (although incomplete) and division of powers/authority between the levels of governance (local, regional, national). Taxation levels and our social security system ensure that there is a fair level of redistribution of wealth from rich to poor. All schools receive equal funding, as this is not depending on the tax base of a certain community
2. every citizen is obliged to vote, even if it's only by showing up at the voting booth (this ensures a real representation of the lower classes)
3. election day is always on a sunday (ensuring that employers cannot pressure their employees not to vote)
4. we have a proportional representation (both left and right wing are represented in parliament)
5. money cannot buy you elections: all parties are financed by the state according to their level of representation. Soft money (campaign contributions of any kind) are illegal. Election propaganda spending is capped.

how many other nations in europe share these traits?

Thanks

anton:

How similar are the various european governments.

It's got more to do with the voting and representative process than with the government in itself. In Western Europe you've got various degrees of proportional representation. The odd duck out is the UK where they still practice the - in my opinion - very undemocratic single winner system, as this (among other reasons) makes the outcome of elections very much dependent on redistricting or gerrymandering.

anton:

Similar to belgian's enough for you to comment on them in a half way competant manner?

Depends on what you call compentent. I'm definitely not a specialist.

anton:

How does beligian's constitution describe itself?

Quite Liberal (classical liberal, that is), but in practice the constitution is far less important here than in a legal system practicing common law and interpretation and precedence is less important in legal matters.

anton:

Also, how many other nations in europe share these traits?

All of them? None that I know off. I guess (5) is quite specific to Belgium, but I'm not entirely certain.

anton:

Thanks

My pleasure