MacBeth either thinks he is smarter than Hamilton and Jefferson, or he doesn't understand our political system.
johnheath either thinks that he is smarter than Solon and Kleisthenes, or he doesn't understand democracy...Which is what the initial point was about, not the American system...which assumption ( that one necessarily equals the other) was the point that I was originally obliquely refuting...But thanks for playing.
It's an interesting and ancient political debate...Is a government elected by the people responsible to the will of it's people, or is it's mandate to 'govern', and let what comes come later. I can actually see merit in both sides, and one of my greatest criticisms of contemporary political leaders is the lack of vision and courage...but I would suggest that, with the exception of self-defense ( which this clearly is not, even by our own UN definition) engaging in a war of your own inception is an issue in which the government should reflect the will of the people. It is actually this very issue which is the foundation of responsible government...It was argued that the people who would go to war are the only people who should decide whether or not to go. As such, the original qualification for being a citizen, with the power to vote, was that you had to serve or have served in the military. We have gotten farther and farther away from that over time, where, in the US, we have recently had our front line troops comprised more and more of those without any political power, whereas those families who do have power have increasingly seen their sons sit out wars in college or the Coast guard...
I don't believe that Iraq has much in common with Vietnam at all, but troops holed-up in cities will not experience the day-and-night B-52 pounding that the Iraqi soldiers experienced in Gulf War I.
There is nothing wrong with protesting but going to these legths is idiocy. But I guess they will realize just how bad of an idea it was while they are getting broomstick raped in jail.
Point being that we do not have a monopoly on the definition of 'Democracy', and that, therefore, our 'way' is not THE way, as was implied in the comment I was addressing, among others. Yes, we are closer to a Republic than a Democracy ( The only really pure form of Democracy in the world is currently Iceland) and again, we have a form of a republic, which was merely the Roman version of a quasi-responsible government which attempted to arrive at a compromise between a democracy and an oligarchy. The fact that they were not Americans was sort of the point.
Not with substance. The UN defintion of justifiable acts of self-defense, written largely by Americans, specifically states that pre-emptive acts are in no way justifiable self-defense, but can only be interpreted as acts of aggression. This was originally written in response to the Soviet habit of invading countries to pre-emot what they saw was imminent danger, either in militarily form, or as 'terrorist activities'. Geese and ganders...
If these people are going to get in the way of me going to work, they might get a kick in the teeth. Unlike some people, I feel like the best way to support my country is to contribute to the economy by working, paying taxes, voting...not keeping people from working and paying taxes. Rather than stopping people from doing their job, their livelyhood...maybe they should go through better pipelines to get change. They always claim that they are the voice of the people...well...if you are the voice of the people that you should have no problems getting signatures, getting referendums on ballots, voting out all the people that disagree with you...make change in a way that is good for the country and is legal...not a way that stops people from going to work and earning a living, or bugging people on bases whose job it is to defend you.
