Bizarro Democracy
I would like to reprint a remark from the comments section of a post on Talking Points Memo:
"In the bizarro rightwing universe, the concept of Democracy has nothing to do with being elected by the people but instead it has to do with whether those in power support their rightwing ideology and agenda.
"In the bizarro rightwing universe, the concept of Democracy has nothing to do with being elected by the people but instead it has to do with whether those in power support their rightwing ideology and agenda.
In particular, democracy is, in their view, an economic rather than a political system, and they equate it to capitalism rather than to elected government, resulting in their making arguments about democracy vs socialism, not realizing that they compare apples to oranges, and totally ignoring the existence of the many socialist democracies in the world."
I don't have a clue who this guy is, but man, did he get that right.
Comments
Democracy can be defined as a form of government, or as a type of government. True our government is a democracy in type, but in form, it is not. As a type, a democracy can be defined as a government that holds free elections with the right to vote extended to all citizens. As a form, it is one where majority rules. This is what you have been shouting for days now, touting the reconciliation proposition claiming democracy dictates we let 51 to 49 be our model.
But this isn't our form of government. Our government is a Constitutional Republic. This means that the majority is restricted, not empowered. The majority can only do so much, as it is bound to the Constitution which protects the minority.
By your definition, a simple majority vote should be able to bring back slavery, force the American people to forfeit their possessions, and restrict civil liberties.
Note how all of those made you cringe. But you can see how our government can't do any of those things. Why? Because our government is (or should be) bound by the Constitution.
"an economic rather than a political system, "
rofl, no it isn't. Democracy is a type and form of government, just not our form of government.
"democracy vs socialism"
Socialism as a political doctrine is similar to democracy. It can have multiple meanings depending on how you frame the question. Socialism can often times be thought of as an economic policy; Keynesian economics, regulations, taxes, etc. It can also be thought of as a political system: The nanny state. Big brother government takes care of the people, rather than the people taking care of themselves.
Same goes for communism. You can see how you are using one definition of a word and applying it to a situation that requires the other definition.
True there are socialist democracies in the world, but we can never be a socialist democracy with our current construct of government. The main reason being that we aren't a democracy in form, instead a Constitutional Republic. The subsequent reasons stem from the first, as out Constitution won't allow for it.
Talk about apples and oranges. Instead of shouting "majority rule", the true patriot would be shouting for the majority to be restricted in order to protect the minority.
What you say may be what you think, and in large part it may be what I think too. It's just not what THEY think. Based on their behavior, a large part of the leaders on the right do believe something very close to what this comment described.
I'm assuming you mean conservatives. Hint: I'm a conservative in every sense of the word. Maybe you are trying to claim the fringe conservatives are the majority (those who think Obama isn't a citizen, would like to get violent and murder politicians, and think that democracy is an economic term, lol). This too would be false as you have no evidence.
Half the time you attribute liberal doctrines to conservatives and blast them for being "right-wing fringe".
Note how most conservatives will say we are a Republic, not a democracy.