US Is a World Leader in Dysfunctional Democracy

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/world/soaring-discontent-democratic-governments



Almost half the world’s 167 countries claim to be democratic, but according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest global Democracy Index that is a mirage because popular discontent with democratic governments is growing worldwide.

“Europe is home to the most ‘full democracies,’ but it is here that popular discontent with dempcracy is most evident,” the Economist reported. “Only 12.5 percent of the world’s population live in a full democracy… More than one-third of the world’s population (some 2.6 billion people) still live under authoritarian rule.”

The United States is at the bottom of the barrel of “full democracies,” ranking 19 out of the 24 countries, just below the Pacific Island country of Mauritius and South America’s Uraguay. Northern Europe is still tops, led by Norway. Canada is seventh.

The survey’s scores are based on “five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture.” The biggest overall trend is that across the globe people who governments claim to be democracies are increasingly frustrated, the Economist found.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. My biggest frustration?

That most of the people elected these days have actually given up on the 'representational' part of 'representational government'. Our elected leaders act far more like the electoral college was designed to - a buffer to allow the rich white landowners to mold government to favour them, rather than to actually represent the people as a whole and respond to their needs. And that so many people have been lulled into simply caring about the 'team' (party) rather than whether the person chosen to represent the 'team' actually WILL represent the voters, and not simply the 'team'.

[AngryDem001]

2. It would be funny

if it wasn't so damn sad.

[merrily]

3. "Democracy" sounds so great, and, so well, democratic, but the US is a republic.

So are most nations we call democracies.

In democracies, citizens make decision, such as whether the nation goes to war, what gets taxed and by how much, etc.

In republics, representatives make those decisions. The only decision citizens get to make are who the representatives are. With our current system, the ability of citizens to decide even who represents them gets more more and theoretical, especially at the Presidential level--and Presidential power has be expanding.

We are a dysfunctional so-called democracy, and putting the fun back into dysfunctional gets harder all the time.

[Spider Jerusalem]

5. The US is a representative democracy.

As are other "democracies". Most other democracies are not in fact republics. The UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Japan, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are all constitutional monarchies with a parliamentary form of government. In a republic like France or the USA the head of state is elected directly by the voters; in a parliamentary democracy like most countries in Europe, Canada, Australia et al the head of the party with a majority in parliament forms a government.

[merrily]

6. The US is a republic.

If "representative democracy" makes you feel better than "republic," for some reason, fine. As I said, "democracy" sounds so lovely and democratic, it makes a lot of people feel better. That is probably why they invented a term like "representative democracy." The Framers, however, set out to, and did, found the US as a republic.

re·pub·lic
rəˈpəblik/
noun
noun: republic; plural noun: republics

a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch.
archaic
a group with a certain equality between its members.

And, when they say that the supreme or ultimate power is held by the people, they mean simply the ability to choose representatives. As my prior post said, that seems to get more theoretical all the time.

[Spider Jerusalem]

7. "but the USA is a republic, not a democracy"...

is an argument I usually hear from ignorant right-wingers. It's ignorant in any case; direct democracy involves the people voting directly on the laws, as in a New England town meeting; representative democracy involves the people electing representatives. A constitutional monarchy like the UK is not a republic, but it is a representative democracy. http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/democracy

[merrily]

8. Then the Framers were ignorant right wingers. So are people who compile dictionaries.

[Spider Jerusalem]

9. I don't really think that the opinions of people who've been dead two centuries...

are very relevant. Especially not when the franchise at the time was restricted to white male property owners. And:

democracy
Line breaks: dem|oc¦racy
Pronunciation: /dɪˈmɒkrəsi

/
Definition of democracy in English:
noun (plural democracies)
[mass noun]
1A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives: a system of parliamentary democracy
More example sentences Synonyms
1.1 [count noun] A state governed under a system of democracy: a multiparty democracy

Dictionaries provide the definition of words as they are commonly used and understood. They are descriptive, not prescriptive. As the word "democracy" is commonly used and understood, the USA is a representative democracy. I am sorry if you have trouble with that concept.

[merrily]

10. The goal of the Framers when they wrote the Constitution is irrelevant to what kind of nation

they created the US to be? Dictionary definitions, which are updated continually, are also irrelevant? All righty then.

[Spider Jerusalem]

11. Yep, it's irrelevant, because it's not 1789 anymore.

You don't have to be a white male property owner to vote. Slavery is illegal. Native Americans are US citizens. US senators are no longer appointed by state legislatures but directly elected. The USA is manifestly not the country that it was then; it is much more democratic because of extension of the franchise to non-property owners (see: Jacksonian democracy) and then to women, African-Americans, Native Americans, and anyone over age 18 who is not a convicted felon.

[merrily]

12. The Constitution still sets up a republic. That has not changed. You are conflating

universal suffrage with the form of government. Who gets to vote for a representative does not alter the form of government.

But, as I said, if term like "representative democracy" makes you feel better enjoy it. It's probably exactly why it was invented.

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. ...

https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Representative_democracy.html

[merrily]

14. Now look up definitions of "republic," like the one I posted above, and tell me

exactly how they differ from the definition of "representative democracy." And btw, both terms usually have several definitions. No fair cherrypicking.

I am not disputing that the term "representative democracy" was created because people would rather have the illusion of democracy. I am disputing that the definition of a so-called representative democracy is different from the actual definition of republic.

[Spider Jerusalem]

17. They differ because a representative democracy need not be a republic.

Constitutional monarchies are representative democracies but they are not republics. A republic, in modern usage, is a representative democracy in which the head of state is an elected or nominated president (the US, France, Germany, et cetera) and not a monarch.

[merrily]

18. Ours is a republic, though. And the definition of republic I posted upthread says President,

not monarch. As I have been saying, "democracy" is a feel good term. Nonetheless, we are a republic.

If you think what the Framers set out to create is irrelevant, you are mistaken.

[Spider Jerusalem]

19. A republic is still a democracy; I'm not sure why you have trouble understanding that.

[merrily]

20. I am not having trouble understanding anything. A republic is a republic. I stated

above what a democracy actually is. That's not us. Creating a new label that is more comforting and makes the people feel more powerful than we actually are does not alter that.

As I keep posting, if "representative democracy" makes you feel better, great. "Enhanced interrogation" made people feel better than "torture," too, but they both described the exact same thing.

I don't see a point in going back and forth on this point any further with someone who thinks what the people who wrote the Constitution set out to create somehow became irrelevant.

See you another time on another subject.

[Spider Jerusalem]

21. You pretty clearly are:

The United States has been a representative democracy since the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1788.

http://israel.usembassy.gov/elections.html

The United States is a representative democracy and its people play an important role in the governing process.

http://www.welcometousa.gov/About_the_US/history_government.htm

The US government refers to the United States as a representative democracy. Maybe you should tell them they're wrong.

[libodem]

4. Bookmarked

K&R.

[bemildred]

15. Mauritius is in the Indian Ocean, just saying. nt

[marmar]

16. k/r

[woo me with science]

22. kick

[woo me with science]

23. kick