On Tue, 30 Jan 2001, Darryl Shannon wrote:
> One more thing. You keep saying that the US is not a democracy. If
> you don't stop saying that you run the risk of people deciding you are
> an idiot. We are a democracy. You may have some ideas to improve our
> political process, perhaps we might even agree on some of them. But
> flatly stating that the US is not a democracy stretches the meanings
> of words past their breaking point. Engaging in hyperbole like this
> is not helpful. It's like claiming that your mother is an abusive
> parent when she won't let you go to the show you wanted. Yes, perhaps
> she made a poor decision, but calling her abusive merely weakens your
> arguments.
Er, we're NOT a democracy -- we're a representative republic. THAT much I
remember from my high school American history class in 11th grade. Now,
we may have some governmental structures at lower levels that *are*
democracies; I think that the Town Meeting form of government as practiced
by a number of smaller towns in New England count as that, and that's
something I've actually participated in -- and it's nothing like, say, a
presidential election.
If you declare that we're a democracy, you run the risk of people deciding
you don't quite have a grasp on what you're talking about. ;)
Julia
