h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

To be fair, the United States isn't exactly a "democracy" using the standard textbook definition, but is rather a very distorted form thereof. If you were to take a citizenship test for America, the answer to the question about what government form the United States is is actually "republic", NOT democracy. I won't get into a big political debate, but I just wanted to offer the truth, rather than what we are force-fed by the media.

Unpopularly yours,
-Dani

i think the term is democretic republic, correct me if im wrong

Correct, America is as much a republic as it is a democracy. If it was a true democracy then the citizens would vote for everything that their representatives vote for and that wouldnt work at all. But the representatives are democratically elected. Hence, Deomcratic Republic.

Researcher 189766 if you write an intro in your Space, people will be able to say hello to you.

Alji

okie done., thnaks. Now if i can figure out how to chnage my name I may have an identity to go along with my space.

Firstly consider yourselves lucky to have a written constitution at all, in the UK polotics are more like Monopoly, rules change at the throw of a dice, or perhaps by the whim of each new goverment.

I feel the word Democracy has now rather different meanings than when first used in the Constitution of America. in The European Community it seems to mean any group who agree with individual member states, in the Uk its anyone or any country that agrees with Mr Blair, the Prime Minister,

It seems to me True Democracy is all things to all people, but at least yours is protected by your Constitution.

Goodluck PeterK (England)

True democracy is universal sufferage for those of adult age. First achived in NZ 1893

In the definition of universal sufferage, wouldn't that apply to everone, including those not of adult age.

The idea of true democracy is impossable. All the people of a nation dedicating a large majority of their time to politics would be truely chaiotic. (Did I spell that Right)

In that case, Athens wasn't a true democracy, either. You had to earn citizenship, and only males could vote.

Athens was a very good attempt at it. I rather like the idea that one has to earn citizenship for a country instead of have it by birth. One average, in the U.S. most of the residents couldn't pass the citizenship test.

The problem with that is that once you start choosing your criteria to award citizenship, you're automatically disenfranchising all the people who can't meet those qualifications, which means those people are going to get screwed over by the new administration.

That's not to say I dislike the idea... just that choosing criteria opens up a whole new set of problems.

In the movie Starship Troopers they had a pretty good idea on it... government service was the qualifying criteria. Maybe we could borrow that... make military, National Guard, Red Cross, or Peace Corps service mandatory for full citizenship. You'd end up with a citizenry with personal experience at doing something for the greater good. It might even be possible that, as elected officials, they could put aside their personal ambitions and greed and actually do something right for the country.

Nahhh...

What's the fun in doing things that are actually productive? That defeats the entire point of being a politician.

I agree. If the politicians fixed everything that is wrong with the country, then they would be out of a job, wouldn't they? The way I figure it, politicians create more problems then they solve just so they have a reason to stay in office.

If they didn't stay in office, who would run things when a real problem arrives. Politicians, can't live with them, can't live without them.

Hmmm. Good point.

Maybe we should just elect them, just to have them there when somehing important needs to be done or happens.

" make military, National Guard, Red Cross, or Peace Corps service mandatory for full citizenship."-Do we really want a government full of military buffs?

How about requiring at least one member of the cabinet to have a close relative serving in the forces, in a role that could put them in front-line combat?

Might act as a disincentive to pointless wars...

I hadn't noticed how militaristic the Peace Corps and Red Cross were.

One good consequence of having people who have served in the military as leaders is the fact that they know what they're doing to people when they send them off to war. They generally turn out to be less reluctant than, say, some presidents who pretended they did a little bit of National Guard service.

The United States is, in fact, a Constitutional Republic.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html

http://www.chrononhotonthologos.com/lawnotes/repvsdem.htm

Hence, I find it rather odd when a President talks about 'spreading democracy throughout the world', something that the United States does not practice itself.