The USA is the only Democratic Country in the World. Discuss.

[orange]

Originally posted by Ned
Idiot.

With well thought out and logical arguments such as this, it's hard to see things any other way!

[Ned]

I too have wonder why more countries have not adopted the U.S. model. It was well thought out by very well educated men trying to perfect government. They obviously used the Roman Empire/Republic as its basic structure, but corrected some its obvious flaws. The glue that holds the whole structure together, though, is the Supreme Court. Though co-equal in theory, it is really the most powerful institution in the U.S. because it "interprets" the Constitution, the supreme law of the land.

We really are not the most "democratic" country in the world. But we are better for it.

Ned

[orange]

Originally posted by Ned
I too have wonder why more countries have not adopted the U.S. model. It was well thought out by very well educated men trying to perfect government. They obviously used the Roman Empire/Republic as its basic structure, but corrected some its obvious flaws. The glue that holds the whole structure together, though, is the Supreme Court. Though co-equal in theory, it is really the most powerful institution in the U.S. because it "interprets" the Constitution, the supreme law of the land.

Quite the opposite...it's the weakest branch IMO. The supreme court can only interpret the laws, but only Congress has the power to actually change it.

[monkspider]

Sorry Orange, my sarcasm-scanner can usually detect 99% of the sarcasm or virtual-sarcasm on this board, your post was simply the one exception to narrowly slip through. Once again, my appologies.

[Roland]

Hasn't this rubbish been posted ages ago ?

About party discipline - that one is mostly for the outside. If you take the UK tories, you've always had struggles between the liberal (classic liberal for the Yanks) and the nutty wing. The nuts make a huge noise sometimes though, esp. over Europe.

Ned:

"I too have wonder why more countries have not adopted the U.S. model."

Because the parliamentary model is better.


"It was well thought out by very well educated men trying to perfect government. They obviously used the Roman Empire/Republic as its basic structure..."

Ehm... I'd see much more british influence. Prey tell, what elements of the constitution of the roman republic are present, apart from name copying ?

"Though co-equal in theory, it is really the most powerful institution in the U.S."

Politically, the US supreme court is extremely weak compared to the german constitutional court or the ECJ.

[Grumio]

This thread is just plain odd. Declaring the US - a republic - to be the best democracy and then saying all European governments are the same as the UK!

The UK electoral system does have a problem in that a party which wins the election will generally dictate policy for the next 5 years so I suggest we look at countries such as Germany instead.

2 words - Proportional representation. There can be stability issues - see Italy - but it fits the ideal of democracy much better than the UK or US.

btw The 'best' democracy in the world led by the man who didnt get the most votes?

[RGBVideo]

Yeah, as we all know, the US & UK are the only democratic countries in the world!
If there are any other democratic countries, their model is a copy of UK system!!!!!11111...

[MarkG]

the US system: where it might be best if you came in second in the votes

[aaglo]

AFAIK (so correct me if I'm wrong).
In US, you are either republican or a democrat... no other hardly exists...

It isn't democracy. It's chess.

[MikeH]

I can't be bothered to read the thread but any country where the Presidency is decided by judges appointed by previous political leaders is completely undemocratic. Especially if the only reason it was close is because the President's brother has rigged the election in his own state by banning huge numbers of eligible voters from voting.

After the latest election the idea of American democracy is a total joke to everyone outside the US and most inside I guess.

[MikeH]

UK isn't particularly democratic either though, we've got a monarch as head of state and our parlimentary system isn't directly representative of the %age of people voting for each party.

[Stefu]

Not to speak of other charming parts of American electional system such as single-member districts allowing candidates to be elected with less than 50% of vote, electoral college system allowing candidate with less votes than the opponent to be elected, and legalized candidate bribery in guise of campaign contributions.

[aaglo]

Stefu - that is the bottom line of democracy

[MikeH]

Oh yes, and those things as well. What election was it recently when Dumbya said that they thought that the electoral process was flawed. I couldn't stop laughing at the irony of that. Still makes me smile.

[MikeH]

And a Republic is NOT A Democracy, I thought this was a Civ site, everyone here should know that.