Open Thread - 09-06-24 - Muh Democracy
From: Miriam Webster Dictionary
Democracy
noun1 a: government by the people
especially : rule of the majorityb: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections
2: a political unit that has a democratic government
3 capitalized : the principles and policies of the Democratic party in the U.S.
from emancipation Republicanism to New Deal Democracy—C. M. Roberts4: the common people especially when constituting the source of political authority
5: the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions or privileges
Anybody seen muh democracy anywhere?
Attribution: Pexels Commons
I looked under the bed, all I found was Putin.
I looked in the closet, Putin again.
More from Miriam Webster Dictionary:
Is the United States a democracy or a republic?
The United States is both a democracy and a republic. Democracies and republics are both forms of government in which supreme power resides in the citizens. The word republic refers specifically to a government in which those citizens elect representatives who govern according to the law. The word democracy can refer to this same kind of representational government, or it can refer instead to what is also called a direct democracy, in which the citizens themselves participate in the act of governing directly.
What is the basic meaning of democracy?
The word democracy most often refers to a form of government in which people choose leaders by voting.
What is a democratic system of government?
A democratic system of government is a form of government in which supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodic free elections.
I looked in the newspaper.
I looked at Google News.
I've looked everywhere.
Where is muh Democracy!
Compared to your scream, the human dream
Doesn't mean shit to a tree
Comments
Good morning Free Rangers...
what a farce!
Howdy JtC et.al
.
.
And a fine fall Friday it is here. Partly sunny, high mid seventies.
East winds under 10 knots. Very reasonable.
Glad you did a search for democracy, cause it
ain't very apparent. The way the spin meisters weaponize language, new
meanings are in constant flux, depending on the present agenda.
The concept of democracy is easy enough to understand. The true application
of the concept is politically complicated by empire ambitions. Perhaps we could
have weekly updates on the meanings of words intended to confuse and divert?
Reality doesn't change that often, but the intended perceptions do.
Thanks for the OT!
question everything
Politics...
has been reduced to buzzwords. Buzzwords are mind killers. Rational thinking is shut off by buzzwords. There's no reason to consider alternate ideas in the mind controlled by buzzwords.
A guide to help
interpret the Gilens and Page study about the absence of democracy in the US.
https://act.represent.us/sign/the-problem-tmp
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Thanks otc. I was getting ready to write a comment
concerning that study, but it isn't anywhere of the quality of that video, which I had long ago lost track of.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Great video...
Political corruption is legal in the US, indeed.
Thanks, my dear.
No Democracy
The only place you might get a little democracy is if you live in a small, populated area because it does not take many votes to oust some of the crooks. Although half the time you may replace them with other crooks, at least if you change them over every few years, they don't have an opportunity to get more power. And just maybe you might actually get someone halfway decent.
Good point...
although I'm of the belief that the corruption goes as deep as local school boards, I agree that we have a much better chance of voting them out on the local level.
Thanks Enchantress.
Bad, false and contradictory definitions.
IF this is true:
then none of this shit is:
The problem is here: b: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly
The italicized crap is not supported by the facts.
THE worlds #1 Democracy, the USOFA will tell you that elections don't equate to democracy; calling one party states non-democratic. This is equally true of it, since the Uniparty is, for all practical purposes, but one party.
The Princeton study (see link posted by otc) showed that. Alleged debunkers allegedly debunk it by slicing and dicing and mightily digressing while, in the process, comparing the "rich" and the "middle class". The middle class is not and has never been the majority of the populace. These debunkings are distortive and non supportive of an idea that the findings in the study were wrong.
Even if we truly had two seeriously different and independent parties, elections still would mean nothing unless it were certain that elected persons would represent the populace as a whole and not just a segment thereof. Que the anecdotal evidence. How many of those allegedly elected to represent you have regularly and routinely polled their constituents as the their wishes and desires regarding a) any issues b) major/important issues c) all issues ?? How many have listened and intelligently responded to unsolicited constituent communications such as the classic letter to one's congressperson??
I think the anecdotal evidence speaks for itself. How the hell can somebody represent you if they don't have any what you think or want? They cannot. And, by and large, the data shows who and what they do represent, and it isn't "we the hoi polloi"
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
When a person...
enters politics, especially on the federal and state level, with X amount of dollars and exit politics with double, triple, or more X amount dollars, that's more than enough evidence of where their allegiance and representation begins and ends.
AOC
entered office as a former barista. She is reportedly worth 29 million.
It doesn't take long for elected officials to become expert investors.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
The amount of Democracy
The amount of Democracy available, is directly proportional to how much money one can spend buying it.
That explains...
the policies meant to keep us all poor.
Somebody once said that the right to choose
one's master doesn't mean that there are no masters, but I can't recall.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I did a search...
and couldn't find the author, but I get the gist of it.
I wasted a bunch of time searching too. Heh,
my first quickie direct search barfed up pages of Biblical shit about serving one's master well, complete with those watever 32:15-7 type citations. Says something about how sick this country is
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Our votes are barely meaningful
I think that at this point we vote for its humor value. Proclaiming that we will not vote for the duopoly candidates typically gets the response "you're voting for Trump." This creates a dilemma. Should we spite-vote for Trump? It would be on a level with Putin's endorsement of Kamala Harris.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
I'm still not sure...
who I'll vote for. We pretty much know what we'll get with Kamala Harris, even though she's flipping and flopping, it will most assuredly be a continuation of the Biden policies, IMHO, of course.
We've had four years of Trump as a harbinger of what may be his second term, if he's elected. Will his second term be a continuation of his first? I don't know. But I have a gut feeling that he may pivot to the left in his second term, mind you that's just a gut feeling.
Yes, it is a dilemma. We still have two months until the election, let's see how it shakes out.
FWIW
I think it is likely Trump has no intention to repeat term one. I find it encouraging that he has reached out (beyond the ranks of his party) where his priorities overlap with outsiders. Kennedy has been offered a meaningful role in helping make the population more healthy (MAHA), through reforms big AG, and in advising to work to restrain the lawless alphabet agencies, and to protection freedom of speech by reducing recent escalation of censorship. Trump’s first term he surrounded himself with spooks and insiders who had no intention on allowing any threats to what Mike Benz refers to as the “Blob” and Trump calls the ‘Swamp’.
Additionally, Elon musk has made overtures to help in generating a full audit of the national budget, including the military and the Blob, and making the results transparent and widely available to the public at large. I believe that Trump has learned and changed in some ways and will inevitably make new errors, and that, perhaps most importantly is reaching out for help, of which he will need plenty of.
Of course getting elected needs to come first, which Democrats will surely continue to pursue their competition with the same integrity and love of ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy’ that they have displayed throughout this craziest of all presidential election that I have ever witnessed. /s
My fervent wish is that the empty vessel pretender to the Democratic throne fails epically.
“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024
Dude...
get out of my head!
Ideally,
the idea of expanding the political reach, and joining together contrasting positions has potential. If Trump’s intention if elected is to follow through with Kennedy’s appointment, then that could be a productive and meaningful change from within. I just don’t know who’s really in or out of control in real decision making, or if Trump will even honour his offer. Promises made for the purpose of election are often not honoured, and the election is quite close in time and votes.
You are right to be skeptical
In the 2016 run up, Trump dangled an offer to RFK jr for a position, and withdrew it after a substantial contribution from a certain pharmaceutical company arrived.
There has been a lot of water over the dam since; stolen(?) election, and a recent brush with death to name a couple. Kennedy feels Trump is sincere in wanting his legacy to be Making America Healthy Again. Kennedy is uniquely positioned to be able to facilitate that process; that and a shared commitment to protect free speech and to end the rampant expansion of government censorship.
A totalitarian shift would be music to globalist’s ears and mark the death knell to our free speech and Democracy.
Nothing is a sure thing these days, but at the moment a bit of hope is the best we can do, it seems.
“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024
Hi ovals
I find it heartening that different legs can stand in balance. It sounds like it has been a very rewarding experience.
Interesting study if it is in fact accurate!
Who are the actual antisemites?
Oops, the science gets out
.
.
so the jews are not semites
therefore anti-semitism is not
directed at jews
playing the 'persecuted' card
question everything
@humphrey Hopefully it can be
Hopefully it can be retrieved using the wayback machine.
We are in the era of Memory Holes, where genuine scientific research is destroyed either from politically driven motivations, or sheer wilful negligence.
Well...
that's a twist of the plot that will ruffle some feathers.
I was reminded of this
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981