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Democracy by definition means the government by people. That means that all the people should be able to have their say in one way another in everything that affects their lives. Dictionaries usually say that this right can either be exercised directly (by every member of a community having the possibility to enter personally, without mediators, his position on a particular issue into the decision making process - modern technology is able to provide this possibility for increasingly larger and larger communities), or through representatives (members of legislative bodies). This second arrangement is then called Representative Democracy.
Representative democracy would be fine if the representatives would really make all their decisions only after consulting their constituencies. In the least, after having a clear idea about the views of their constituents on a particular issue, and trying to accommodate these views as best as possible (or postpone the decisions until an overwhelming majority of the constituents would be happy with them).
Unfortunately, a vast majority of countries that call themselves Representative Democracies are not true democracies according to the above definition. Most of them are actually just Elected Dictatorships. People can vote usually only once every four or five years. They do not vote on any issues. They just elect their so called representatives who then until the next elections have no obligations by law and little incentives to base their decisions on individual issues on the wishes on their electorate. They hardly ever bother to consult them on their stands on various issues. Therefore, legislative bodies composed of such "representatives" act in a very dictatorial manner between the elections. The only country that is quite close to the definition of Democracy isSwitzerland (more or less since 1291).
Any governmental system is fine if the people subject to this system are happy with it. Perhaps, in most of the above described "Elected Dictatorships," such a system of government is still the best one under the current circumstances.
What do you think? Are you happy with is? Isn't it time to do better? It all should depend on you, the citizens - which system you prefer. Are you willing to give some of your free time to be interested in public matters, and to participate in decision making?
We would like to hear from the politicians of the so called "Representative Democracies" how in their view their activities satisfy the definition of Democracy.
We would like to discuss the interesting question of theLeadership. What is the role of leaders in a true Democracy?
We would like to contribute to the clarification of the meaning of the word Democracy.
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∙ 14y ago
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What was the Mayflower Compact an example of?
The Mayflower compact was an early example of representative government.
Why are we even in Iraq?
We are in Iraq because America wishes spread freedom and dimocracy through out the entire world
What dimocracy was Athens under?
A direct democracy(A democracy in which people decide laws and policies at mass meetings)
Is south Vietnam a dimocracy?
On theory it is a Republic. But South Vietnam actually a Republican Dictatorship type of government like Cromwell Republic. So it is not very democracy at all. At least it gives human rights.
When is obamas term up?
January 20, 2013. This is assuming he does not win re-election. If he wins the election of 2012, then it will end on Jan 20, 2017. Regarding Obama (Soetoro) impeachment. A great many Americans want to do something to help the economy, immigration, and the myriad problems this country has, and the traditional method, as described and legally mandate by the US Constitution, is to impeach the the miscreant, Obama (Soetoro), and the result is now many people who have minimal knowledge of our constitution are demanding that this man be impeached, unfortunately this is not possible, in that: 1. Impeachment is reserved for the elected person deemed guilty of one or more crimes as specified within the US Constitution. However, there is not reliable evidence that Obama (Soetoro) is/was eligible to run for office(if you cannot run you cannot hold an office that requires a legally eligible person to be voted into such an office. 2. Many people argue that "the people have spoken," and this assertion is equally untenable in that the US is a Republic, not a dimocracy, and under our present system the voting citizen does NOT vote for their candidate, they vote for their representative, the person acting under the rules of the US electoral college wherein the majority, that over 50% of total votes, of citizen votes are turned over to the electoral college and ALL, 100%, of the total votes (including those votes that were not for the person the representative casts votes for, are cast for the person who received that majority in total. 3. As stated the US Constitution does not allow for individual votes, therefore it is incorrect to say that a person was chosen by "the people." And as stated above, a person who is prohibited from running cannot, therefore, be elected no matter how many votes they received. Nor can a person who is ineligible be sworn into a office for the same reason, i.e., it the votes a non-eligible person receives do not count as a vote. In summary, the person called Obama (Soetoro) cannot be impeached because there is no provision in the Constitution for the impeachment of a person who is NOT elected into office. However, if enough voters get their federal representatives to vote to impeach a person, the Constitution would first have to be altered to allow a person NOT voted in to office but holds that office illegally to come under federal jurisdiction which allows such an impeachment. A built in no-win. If for example, Obama (Soetoro) were to get impeached, and he proves he is not a citizen and that he, in actual fact could not have held the office he is being impeach for, that impeachment would not apply to him. However, if he can prove he actually is a citizen then that impeachment would still not apply to him as he was legally voted into office. In the final analysis if persona wish to act to remove Obama (Soetoro) from the whitehouse then the simplest way would simply arrest his for the numerous laws he hs broken and to try him as any other person would be tried, and with the same punishment as any other person would suffer for breaking the law under which Obama (Soetoro) was arrested.
