Democracy is in the midst of its longest continuous decline in nearly 40 years.

Waiting...

Prove that you can talk about anything that is relevant to your own thread, article, and assertions, other than your two-bit, junior varsity zone defense of Islam's interests.

 

I didn't exactly say that "Candidates aren't perfect." That's part of the reason voting isn't democratic, but its an oversimplification. It's more like candidates go through a vetting process that ensures that they aren't a fair statistical representation of society as a whole. And that's just a part of the reason voting isn't democratic. The other reason that voting isn't democratic is that elections by voting consist yield of government of the people that vote, and as anybody who monitors elections will tell you, turnouts are typically a small fraction of the adult population. Hence, the system of voting does not produce a government of the people, but rather a government of those who vote, with candidates determined by the people who proclaim to be better informed than the masses -- essentially an aristocracy.

I'd be completely comfortable with my friends, family, neighbors, professors, store owners, etc. being elected to political office. The incompetent would prove themselves incompetent by their actions, not by the claims of moneyed interests. Of course, the idea isn't perfect, but I think that it is more democratic than the system we have in place, and it alleviates many of the problems with the current system.

Before you attack a foreign idea, you should make an honest appraisal of its merits and demerits relative to the status quo.

 

I guess this discussion is over.

 

This is mind-numbingly stupid.

Someone is clutching at straws.

 

Fantastic logic Mathloom...

 

You're saying that voting is bad because those who don't vote don't have a voice. Well, no ****. That's how it has sort of been designed.

Why should those who don't vote, who don't CHOOSE to participate in the political process, have as much voice as those who do make such an effort? You seem to have no problem with an illiterate foolish mobs running things because it would be more democratic - that is not the United States. Never has been. That's Revolutionary France, or an ancient democratic Greece that tore itself apart through war.

Just because someone does stupid crap because he's genuinely stupid and isn't a puppet of these moneyed interests doesn't make the crap any less stupid. Ron Paul's not a puppet of these moneyed interests - that doesn't mean he's not a psychotic nutjob who would destroy this country if he ran it.

 

Pillars of Democracy? What are those pillars that are shaking? Anti-muslim sentiments, and some hate-speech/politics control in Germany are all that you named. I could make a better case for declines in personal liberties in democratic nations while being waterboarded. Please, for the love of God. Analyze a western country without reference to Islam. You hide behind saying your analysis is subjective. All analysis is. The point is to take that subject and objectivize it. Where is the object of your subject?

And as I understand it, your point is that, since Arab nations were batting .210 and Democratic nations are career .290 hitters, and now Arabs have been hitting a few home runs, and Germany has had a few more strikeouts than normal, that hitting in general is on the decline?

OH. And the running thing. Unbelievably INSIGHTFUL comparison, brah. Thanks for explaining the difference between velocity and acceleration. Tell me how Jimmy, miles ahead in a race that produces physical distance between them, could hold back Timmy? It certainly happens, America holding/affecting Arabia's pace, per your jab, but such incomplete explanations are disingenuous, and maybe oversimplifying politics isn't your thing because you seem to have a singularly-oriented, very narrow perspective.

It's funny, that I said "pretend we're children," because you took it in the opposite direction than I expected. I thought you would avoid making the arguments for how German democracy is failing altogether (and you really did), so I just offered you a way to explain it in the easiest, simplest terms you meant it. It was sort of my white flag. Just tell us what is wrong in the countries you mentioned, I actually want to know. You took it to mean, hey this is a child, he will believe anything I say so I'm going to make this analogy sound like recess. Misleading illustrations are nothing new, just surprised that you would show your tendency to propagandize so explicitly.

One must choose your words, when simplifying broader concepts to children more responsibly. They know little and are easily persuadable. Well, I don't have to tell you that.

If your opinion is so widely held, as you claim, let the democracy of the bbs demonstrate it. Where are your men, Mathloom? You are an arab cheerleader, and anyone here can see it for themselves. All I can say is that I hope there is more peace in your part of the world, and more clarity in your posts.