How democratic is America?

[MrFun]

Yes, but they are much smaller than the U.S. and tend to have more homogeneous populations.

Homogeneous? I thought since the 1970s, Western Europeans have dramatically diversified with immigrants from African, Middle Eastern, and Asian countries?

[giblets]

You're deluded if you think they've become as diverse as teh US population.

[MrFun]

You're deluded if you think they've become as diverse as teh US population.

I don't think that.

What I'm saying is that I thought that since the 1970s, Western European countries have become less homogeneous and more heterogeneous.

[Hauldren Collider]

I never understood this thought process. Government is so evil. But yet, you want it to kill instead of feed. You are afraid of jack booted thugs stealing your guns, but you want armed guards on every street corner. And who cares if they are convicted felons, child molesters, wife-beaters... just as long as they aren't black.

Also, it's funny to watch you argue against a strawman. Maybe you should read my thoughts on the matter.

trololol

I want government to stick to what it's good at, which is not providing for me but protecting me from others.

When you think about it, the government is nothing more than the largest and most successful organized crime syndicate in the area. Ours is special because we get a say in who our mob boss is.

[giblets]

I don't think that.

What I'm saying is that I thought that since the 1970s, Western European countries have become less homogeneous and more heterogeneous.

So your comment had no relevance to the statement you quoted?

[Aeson]

I want government to stick to what it's good at, which is not providing for me but protecting me from others.

"Protecting you from others" is a form of providing for you. (And there are plenty of other way that government provides for people that would be horrible to stop. You've even argued for some of them at times.)

[OneFootInTheGrave]

It's arguable that it is kind of high score as well, considering the direction they are going in lately.

[Aeson]

When you think about it, the government is nothing more than the largest and most successful organized crime syndicate in the area.

This makes no sense. They're both organizations that can have (extremely variable) capability to project power, but so is the PTA. Other than that there's nothing necessarily similar about them. Not to mention the paradox of crime being against laws, laws being set by government.

Perhaps you meant that organized crime is just a form of illegitimate government incapable of fully enforcing it's laws in it's "jurisdiction". (Note: not the inverse of your statement.)

[regexcellent]

These rankings are unbelievably ****ing stupid. And they're usually (but not always) run by Scandinavians for some reason, as if I give a **** what a bunch of moose ****ers think about my country.

Anyhow, Mauritius has like 80k people in it and Uruguay maybe 2 million. So I don't really care if small insignificant countries nobody cares about are allegedly more "democratic."

[Felch]

I never understood this thought process. Government is so evil. But yet, you want it to kill instead of feed. You are afraid of jack booted thugs stealing your guns, but you want armed guards on every street corner. And who cares if they are convicted felons, child molesters, wife-beaters... just as long as they aren't black.

Where the **** did I ask for armed guards on street corners?

Also, it's funny to watch you argue against a strawman. Maybe you should read my thoughts on the matter.

Well, here's a sampling of your retardation:

Gun people are psychos. Just like there's no safe cigarette, there is no such thing as a responsible gun owner. Responsible people don't possess firearms.

Abortion is a medical procedure. I trust a medical professional's morals and ethics more than I do a politician's.

So owning a firearm makes you a psycho, but killing human beings for money makes you a paragon of morals and ethics. And it's okay if those human beings are viable fetuses because:

late term abortions ... simply are not happening on the scale that "pro-life" advocates would have you believe.

There are about 18,000 late term abortions (after 20 weeks) every year in this country. There are about 12,000 homicides with firearms every year.

Thanks for contributing your retarded thoughts, Sava!

[OneFootInTheGrave]

I don't get it, for a country which has for the most part suspended habeas corpus, practices torture, runs a concentration camp, executes minors, has a two party political system, runs private for profit prisons with highest prison population in the world, where 80% of media is controlled by a cartel of five companies, has very strong executive branch of government which can do almost anything it pleases to its citizens and amongs other things spies on it's population without any particular supervision - US generally ranks quite high on such "freedom" and "democracy" charts. There is probably bias in favour of it and not against it.

[regexcellent]

Hey, any other Americans feel like we're helplessly living under a crushing dictatorship?

[Hauldren Collider]

Where are these concentration camps? Why haven't I heard of them? Is it because they inside secret FEMA facilities in Detroit or something?

[Krill]

I want government to stick to what it's good at, which is not providing for me but protecting me from others.

When you think about it, the government is nothing more than the largest and most successful organized crime syndicate in the area. Ours is special because we get a say in who our mob boss is.

...You only just figured that out?

[MichaeltheGreat]

Hey, any other Americans feel like we're helplessly living under a crushing dictatorship?

Shhhh... they're listening...