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  1. Hi there... Can you please quickly check to make sure your email address is up to date here? Just in case we need to reach out to you or you lose your password. Muchero thanks!

What is Democracy?

Discussion in 'Too Hot for Swamp Gas' started by Trickster, Oct 18, 2023.

  1. Trickster

    Trickster VIP Member

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    Opinion | Can an Unpopular Populist Still Damage Democracy?


    “Democracy is a system in which parties lose elections,” Adam Przeworski, a political scientist at N.Y.U., wrotein 1991 — a definition that would prove prescient in the wake of the 2020 election.

    “Outcomes of the democratic process are uncertain, indeterminate ex ante,” Przeworski continued. “There is competition, organized by rules. And there are periodic winners and losers.”

    “Presumably, Donald Trump has no idea who Adam Przeworski is, but Trump refused to accept the Przeworski dictum in the aftermath of his 2020 defeat, claiming victory despite all evidence to the contrary.

    Trump’s success in persuading a majority of Republicans of the legitimacy of his palpably false claims has revealed the vulnerability of American institutions to a subversion of democratic norms. That much is well known.”
     
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2023
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  2. duggers_dad

    duggers_dad GC Hall of Fame

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    Democracy is basically polite totalitarianism.
     
  3. sierragator

    sierragator GC Hall of Fame

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    In before we get the lecture about " we are a republic and not a democracy".
     
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  4. Trickster

    Trickster VIP Member

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    What a dumb statement.
     
  5. ATLGATORFAN

    ATLGATORFAN Premium Member

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  6. Trickster

    Trickster VIP Member

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  7. duggers_dad

    duggers_dad GC Hall of Fame

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    Me ? I thought it was dumb when, in March 2020, we woke up to a democracy that wouldn’t allow us to open our businesses, send our kids to school, attend church, comfort our dying or bury our dead. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just cantankerous.
     
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  8. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

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    Par for the course from a guy who's claimed monarchy is superior
     
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  9. Trickster

    Trickster VIP Member

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    Cantankerous is an endearing quality. Your not cantankerous.
     
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  10. mrhansduck

    mrhansduck GC Hall of Fame

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    https://thehill.com/homenews/campai...natives-to-democracy-violence-stop-opponents/

    A significant share of respondents question if democracy is no longer a viable system of governance; 31 percent of Trump supporters said America should explore alternative forms of government to ensure stability and progress, compared to 24 percent of Biden supporters.

    The survey was conducted from Aug. 25 to Sept. 11 with 2,008 registered voters. It has a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.
     
    Last edited: Oct 18, 2023
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  11. PITBOSS

    PITBOSS GC Hall of Fame

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    Have we ever had this open embracement of political violence defined by party? Started by......trump. jeesk he encourages it.
     
  12. rivergator

    rivergator Too Hot Mod Moderator VIP Member

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    Not if you accept the idea that you can make up a new definition for any word you want
     
  13. duggers_dad

    duggers_dad GC Hall of Fame

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    You can depose one bad tyrant. What do you do with a million ?
     
  14. rivergator

    rivergator Too Hot Mod Moderator VIP Member

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    Not by one of the major parties, at least as far as I know but we’ve never had anyone like trump or the current GOP
     
  15. ATLGATORFAN

    ATLGATORFAN Premium Member

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    guess it depends on your motives. If the intent is to advise/remind people they aren’t under mob rule aka 50%+1. Then yes it’s important. If the intent is to muddy the water and conflate with intent to deceptively move away from electoral college then no.
     
  16. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

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    This is just nonsensical unless you believe one person with absolute power is somehow weaker than a million people with a very small amount of power equally distributed, but you are that guy who believes that. Seems easier for one guy to close your business in a pandemic than a million people with different interests who will disagree for all sorts of reasons, but again, but maybe you can pray your king thinks exactly the same way as you, but you definitely have no control over that at all!
     
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  17. duggers_dad

    duggers_dad GC Hall of Fame

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    Would you rather face one bad guy, in an alley, or a million ? Seriously, I can’t think of a stupider belief than democracy = individual freedom. Well, maybe belief in people as deadly disease vectors.
     
  18. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

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    It does, I think. Voting itself doesn't necessarily equal a democracy or a republic.
     
  19. wgbgator

    wgbgator Premium Member

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    What if the one guy had a .50 cal machine gun and the million could only use feather dusters to attack you?
     
  20. rivergator

    rivergator Too Hot Mod Moderator VIP Member

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    “Democracy is a system where parties lose elections”

    that’s pretty great