Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson for July 01, 2008
June 30, 2008
July 02, 2008
Transcript:
Alice: Lookit this! Petey: "Come join the Cul de Sac Fourth of July Parade!!! Friday at Noon on Cul de Sac Avenue!!!" Alice: Daddy's going to decorate my tricycle so I can be in it. I'll be Queen of Fourth of July! Petey: You can't be Queen of Fourth of July! We're a democracy. Alice: I'll be Queen of Democracy! Petey: You make me shudder.
(read 1st part of the reply above)
robert423elliott confuses “democracy” with “direct democracy” in which all citizens participate in the legislative activity, as in ancient Athens. Impossible now for the huge number of citizens. So USA, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Japan and UK are “representative democracies”, where the people elect their representatives in free and fair elections. True democracies nonetheless.
the argument by robert423elliott (we pledge allegiance to a Republic, not to a Democracy) is flawed. Republic stands for “state”, while democracy is a possible FORM (the only acceptable) of a state. That is, republic is to democracy as “person” is to “honesty”. I can marry (that is, pledge eternal love to) a person, if she/he is honest. I cannot marry honesty itself. And I claim the right to divorce that person if she/he ceases to be honest. As I claim the right to cease allegiance to my republic if it ceases to be a Democracy
Rejecting Democracy amounts to advocating a fascist state, or a personal dictatorship like that of Stalin, Castro or Mobutu. Because ideas like civil liberties, free speech, free and fair elections etc. are embedded in the concept of Democracy, much more than in that of Republic. So, claiming that USA are not a Democracy amounts to denying the value of those very ideas which the US Constitution poses as the basis of American society.