Is "Democratic" an Oxymoron?

[jwoodie]

Note that many countries whose names begin with "Democratic" are anything but democratic and are in fact one-party dictatorships. Is not that the aim of our own "Democratic" Party? By direct admission, they do not trust our electoral system and feel justified in overturning the results if they don't agree with them. Why do we keep putting up with this charade?

 

[Pogo]

Note that many countries whose names begin with "Democratic" are anything but democratic and are in fact one-party dictatorships. Is not that the aim of our own "Democratic" Party? By direct admission, they do not trust our electoral system and feel justified in overturning the results if they don't agree with them. Why do we keep putting up with this charade?

Indeed --- "Democratic Republic of Congo", "Democratic People's Republic of Korea", "German Democratic Republic" -- all of these are put there to give the impression that the people are in charge. That's not even the case here, as our wags will hasten to point out with "we're not a democracy, we're a republic". Even though the two are not mutually exclusive.

Yet despite this these same wags will latch for dear life onto the "National Socialist German Worker's Party" and do a 180, insisting the word 'socialist' is not there for the same purpose.

As for current (or past) political parties both terms have been used in the present and in the past, neither is inaccurate since we are a republic in our governmental structure and as well every time we vote for an official we practice democracy. The original Jefferson-Madison political party used both terms. The Know Nothings were originally the American Republican Party.

In a related story the Post cereal called Grape Nuts has neither grapes nor nuts in its ingredients; the music band "10,000 Maniacs" has never had anywhere near ten thousand members, and the "Pennsylvania Dutch" didn't come from Holland.

 

[Indeependent]

Note that many countries whose names begin with "Democratic" are anything but democratic and are in fact one-party dictatorships. Is not that the aim of our own "Democratic" Party? By direct admission, they do not trust our electoral system and feel justified in overturning the results if they don't agree with them. Why do we keep putting up with this charade?

The majority is not always civilized.