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Kevin A. Ferreira
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Is democracy not working, or is it us?
January 27, 2007 - 11:19 PM
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Statistics show there are many people who do not vote in America, yet voting is one of the most basic ways we can participate in democracy. Many people say that democracy in the US. is not as strong as it once was, or that if our forefathers were to see America today they'd be disappointed? Do you think this is true?
I feel that many people today do not realize the power they truly have in the government, and that some people do not entirely know how the government works. I think if people were to truly realize how important our vote, not only for president is, that more people would be satisfied with our government. Our government was set-up to protect our basic rights, and to ensure us protection, and the right to pursue our own happiness, but if we do not feel the government is doing this we have the right to abolish it. Yet the same time, the democratic government is very much like a contract, if we are politically responsible and aware and vote than the government will do that, but if we begin to slack off it will begin to stop. Do you feel that more people need to be politically responsible? Or do we need to change some of the ways the government works in America to satisfy the people more?
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mnopq
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Re: Is democracy not working, or is it us?
January 30, 2007 - 03:30 PM
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DeterminedDream wrote:
Statistics show there are many people who do not vote in America, yet voting is one of the most basic ways we can participate in democracy. Many people say that democracy in the US. is not as strong as it once was, or that if our forefathers were to see America today they'd be disappointed? Do you think this is true?
What do you mean by strong democracy? More people participating in elections? Wealth and power being more equally distributed? Or?
First thing to consider is that population of the US has grown enormously in last 200 years.
Second thing to consider is perhaps the way democracy was perceived then and is perceived now. This perception has changed a lot as well, and with it its "implementation."
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Khalid
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Re: Is democracy not working, or is it us?
February 15, 2007 - 06:21 AM
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in my opinion, democracy is not the apropriate form of government for each society. may be it will be the best rather the only available option but for others it may appear as an onus on the society.
about the voting, in USA someof people according to TI, dont vote, that is becauese of lack of trust on the system, although computerized, but some people think the end result will be what white house demands. this happend in bush-algore case.
if, for example, we see the case of afghanistan, the people had a hope of peace for the govt. of karzai, they voted, it was successful, but at the end karzai himself cries and says i cant stop ISAF or NATO from killing our children! when a head of state cries, to whom the people should cry, to US or NATO who kill them?
so, democracy althought a good form of govt, is not appropriate for some society, i belive afghanistan is one of them. mahatir talked about limited democray, i agree.
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Butters
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Re: Is democracy not working, or is it us?
February 15, 2007 - 10:24 AM
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I agree with many of your points. I would add that many of the elections in the US work very well and the person elected is representative of the popular vote. The one vote that does not work, however, is the vote for President.
As I am sure you are aware, the Electoral College actually elects the President and not the citizens. Indeed, the Electoral College (for the most part) allocates thier votes for the President based on the state's vote, but this system is seriously flawed. I grew up in Virginia and everyone knew/knows Virginia is a very Republican state. The Republican canidate always wins by a large margin. This causes some, who are not Republican, not to vote. The reason behind it is that their vote means nothing. If the state gets 60% Republican and 40% Democrat, the 13 Electoral College votes are not split based on percentages but all 13 votes go to the Republicans. This allows for cases where the popular vote canidate is not elected (i.e. Bush in 2000).
The idea behind the Electoral College was that the Founding Fathers wanted to make sure that a, at the the time, somewhat illiterate society would not put someone into office who was incapable of the position. This reason is no longer valid and the Electoral College is something that needs to be changed.
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Luke Lieberman
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Re: Is democracy not working, or is it us?
February 15, 2007 - 04:01 PM
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"someof people according to TI, dont vote, that is becauese of lack of trust on the system, "
that is not really true Hamid - when there is a lack of trust people vote in larger numbers because they want change.
this last election cycle was on of the highest midterm election turnouts in US history -
this is precisely because they did not trust the government and so wanted to elect change and new representation.
"but some people think the end result will be what white house demands."
Hamid most of the country is not computerized yet - and more to the point - the issue with Gore/Bush was ultimately an electorial college issue more than a voting issue -
it was decided by the Supreme Court - not the White House.
Hamid - at the time of the election Clinton was the residing President.
CLINTON was the White House - Gore was HIS Vice President.
so if anything the White House would have wanted Gore to win - not Bush.
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Manosij Majumdar
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Re: Is democracy not working, or is it us?
February 19, 2007 - 05:20 PM
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Fidel Castro, found lounging on a beach during an American election, was asked if he wasn't being too indifferent to the election.
"Not at all", he replied, "I am doing what most Americans do on election day."
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UFJ
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Re: Is democracy not working, or is it us?
March 17, 2007 - 02:34 PM
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I hope you continue to raise issues and concerns because your views are very balanced.
Mr. Bey
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7w3ek
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Re: Is democracy not working, or is it us?
March 20, 2007 - 12:50 AM
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The fact that America was never founded as a democracy but was founded as a republic yet it's citizens are told it is a democracy and The Government is spreading it around the world is what really should worry American Citizens
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