Define 'democracy'.....

[durruti]

Yes I understand that but the question is if the system has eroded? I mean if the politician you vote for is getting paid by someone to run errands for them that run contrary to the reason you voted for him/her, then the whole system is failing.

Or lets say that one person has the financial power to run his own election campaign and finance his personal choice of president - would that be democratic?

 

[BenMarbleMD]

well how would you define 'democracy'?

Government by direct representation -- one person, one vote.

I'd take that a step further....

one CITIZEN=one dna sample=one vote

*the dna sample would be compared against a dna database to make all votes VERIFIABLE!
Anything less than a verifiable vote isn't democracy.

 

[BenMarbleMD]

A pure democracy would be one person one vote on ALL matters. It simply would not work on a large scale. That is why No actual Government anywhere is a pure Democracy.

historically you are correct but now with the power of the internet REPRESENTATIVES are NO LONGER NECESSARY i.e. everyone COULD vote their own opinion on any and all govt. issues...that begs the real question do we really WANT to allow each citizen to vote on any/all issues? In a REAL DEMOCRACY that would be required but there is a good argument to be made about not allowing morons to vote

 

[sparky]

Having some sort of metric applicable to the term would save much ado

would a big giant meter on the white house be appropos?

 

[code1211]

the problem is that you cant get elected if you dont have corporate backing and there is no such thing as a democratic corporation.

esop?

 

[code1211]

A pure democracy would be one person one vote on ALL matters. It simply would not work on a large scale. That is why No actual Government anywhere is a pure Democracy.

historically you are correct but now with the power of the internet REPRESENTATIVES are NO LONGER NECESSARY i.e. everyone COULD vote their own opinion on any and all govt. issues...that begs the real question do we really WANT to allow each citizen to vote on any/all issues? In a REAL DEMOCRACY that would be required but there is a good argument to be made about not allowing morons to vote

In our Republic, the Federal Government is a congregation of Sovereign States. That is why Represetatives represent particular constituancies and why the individual states send particular delgations to the Electoral College to elect the president.

The Senate requires a 60% majority to pass anything and this, according to Jefferson, prevents the "tyranny of the majority".

Our Republic was constructed to preseve and represent the unique identities of the several areas and cultures of the country.

Your idea could result in all of the "Representatives" living in one area and a defacto oligarchy.

In terms of governmental types, a lynch mob is the purest representation of democracy.

 

[BenMarbleMD]

A pure democracy would be one person one vote on ALL matters. It simply would not work on a large scale. That is why No actual Government anywhere is a pure Democracy.

historically you are correct but now with the power of the internet REPRESENTATIVES are NO LONGER NECESSARY i.e. everyone COULD vote their own opinion on any and all govt. issues...that begs the real question do we really WANT to allow each citizen to vote on any/all issues? In a REAL DEMOCRACY that would be required but there is a good argument to be made about not allowing morons to vote

In our Republic, the Federal Government is a congregation of Sovereign States. That is why Represetatives represent particular constituancies and why the individual states send particular delgations to the Electoral College to elect the president.

The Senate requires a 60% majority to pass anything and this, according to Jefferson, prevents the "tyranny of the majority".

Our Republic was constructed to preseve and represent the unique identities of the several areas and cultures of the country.

Your idea could result in all of the "Representatives" living in one area and a defacto oligarchy.

In terms of governmental types, a lynch mob is the purest representation of democracy.

I think u missed my point...we could theoretically construct an OPEN online Voting system which requires a DNA sample that allows each citizen to vote on EVERY issue up for vote i.e. a system WITHOUT representatives bc each CITIZEN represents themselves via their ONLINE VOTE....but like I said do we really want all the morons in this country to actually have a vote on every issue? I personally say NO bc the average person isn't informed enough to vote on all issues...of course neither are the alleged representatives we currently have in Congress