United States of the American Dictatorship?

[MikeH]

Originally posted by GeneralTacticus


Well, assuming that whoever was in charge of said ruling party pciked all the candidates, yes. Voting is irrelevant when who you vote for makes no difference.

I guess that's why so few people vote in the US, they can't see what difference it'll make to them.

[GeneralTacticus]

And rightly so.

[problem_child]

Originally posted by OneFootInTheGrave
UK is much better than US... even though Tony is a new Maggie... Maggie, Major, Tony.... , still something must be wrong

UK has at least three parties + 1 nationalist and some other meaningless mess .

No, I know you're eing sarcastic but I agree, the nature of 'The West' is like that. That's why people are always complaining about a lack of differences between the parties.

[mrboo123]

If the USA is a Dictatorship... Canada is a commiest (sorry for spelling...)

[problem_child]

A new term has to be invented for what the US is, Corporate Republic ala CtoP, or Market State, Lobbitocracy, Commercial Technocracy....

[Drogue]

Our government doesn't even come close to what you posted

No, it doesn't, but does the Government actually control the county? I agree the US is quite a leap away from a Dictatorship, but I have seen enough eminent people arguing that corporations have more power in America than the Federal Government. They choose not just what people by, but some (media companies) almost decide what the nation should think. I also heard that something like 90% of Midterm elections are won by the candidate that spends the most money in advertising and campaigning. Since the corporations hold the money, it is quite conceivable that they choose who is elected to a large extent. I voted "The United States is is a bit closer to dictatorship than other western, democratic nations", because although I believe it has a long way to go until it becomes a dictatorship, it is further on that road than most of Western Europe.

[problem_child]

Anyway the Electoral Colleges apparently do the actual votin, so its more like a Republic (where only an elite get to vote) then a democracy (where every common joes vote counts)

[Giancarlo]

WTF? Another one of these threads? The US is not a dictatorship because it has:

1) An elected government
2) Respects Rights

Now you leftists try to use this excuse as to prevent the war against terror (for example stalling progress made against Al Qaeda cells domestically).

I believe some parts of Europe, even Western Europe, are moreso dictator like than the US.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Ming
Let me know when a real dictatorship takes over in the US... Until then, just a troll...

You do realize, that by then it will be too late.

No, the US isn't distubingly close to being a dictatorship. Certainly it has aspects of a police state, and some of our Constitutional rights are have been severely diminished, but we aren't close to becoming a dictatorship.

That isn't to say that the direction we are headed isn't disturbing and that under the right circumstances, we couldn't become one overnight. But we an't fight might bes, only what's actually happening. So stick to the diminishment of our liberties and buy a gun for the day Bush closes down Congress.

[orange]

i don't think dictatorship is the right word to use when comparing to other nations. It's our political culture that makes us overexert ourselves, and overstep our bounds, in most cases, and while that may look dictatorial, our nation is clearly a democracy. I would say, however, that other western nations are more democratic than we are, while not being complete democracies themselves, because they have better representation in government. Political parties are much finer in their policy differences, and coallition governments provide that all parties have a chance of having a say in government policies. As long as our two party state exists, and our voting population remains somewhat passive and apathetic, we will be a democratic republic.

[GeneralTacticus]

2) Respects Rights

What happened to the rights of those 1000+ Muslim-Ameircans who were arrested after September 11 and haven't been heard from since?

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by GeneralTacticus


What happened to the rights of those 1000+ Muslim-Ameircans who were arrested after September 11 and haven't been heard from since?

Proof. Not assumptions. A lot of them have been released.

[GeneralTacticus]

Source?

[GeneralTacticus]

Oh, and I find it hilarious that you can ask for 'proof, not assumptions', when you make statements like 'you're a communist, therfore you're wrong.'

[mrmitchell]

Eh...

Read the text of the Patriot Act (and for that matter, read news articles of some of the consequences of it) and tell me the US respects rights.

The main trouble with it is that the nation was still panicking after Sept 11 and it was rushed through Congress. Our congresspersons should not panic; that's one of the things they are supposed to be good at in these kinds of instances

And oh yeah, the other trouble is it hasn't been repealed yet (or AFAIK even spoken unkindly of in Congress)

Probably because any speech against the great Patriot Act would get this response:

So, are you saying you're not a Patriot??? Do you not believe how good the USA is!? Don't you trust John Ashcroft!???

(BTW, another poly poster posted something like this this morning or yesterday. If I knew them, I'd credit the inspiration for this to them )

Also, Fez, source please.