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The Language of Democracy

dissentmagazine.org

21–30 of 53 posts

Re: The Language of Democracy

#21
post #18
post #7

What democracy? Please show me a true democracy The US is not it

If that's your threshold then a true anything has never been tried.

I mean, it has definitive flaws. Like convoluted rules that lead to capture by minority. And that minority is able tweak the rules further so that they need less and less votes to win more and more power.

Re: The Language of Democracy

#22

From wikipedia's Christopher Lasch entry, here is a quote from his: ``` A feminist movement that respected the achievements of women in the past would not disparage housework, motherhood or unpaid civic and neighborly services. It would not make a paycheck the only symbol of accomplishment. ... It would insist that people need self-respecting honorable callings, not glamorous careers that carry high salaries but take…

The poverty at the time was actual real world issue women faced. The honorable calling does not pay the bills and does not allow you to escape the abusive partner.

It is that sleight of hand where they pretend to be oh so caring about women while completely ignoring pretty large issues. And where they pretend to value housework and what not while consistently treating women living those values as stupider.

Re: The Language of Democracy

#23
post #21
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's your threshold then a true anything has never been tried.

I mean, it has definitive flaws. Like convoluted rules that lead to capture by minority. And that minority is able tweak the rules further so that they need less and less votes to win more and more power.

Every democracy has this.

Re: The Language of Democracy

#24
post #17
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You want a monarchy?

Personally, I've always believed the best form of government is an absolute monarchy headed by a benevolent monarch. The problem with that, of course, is benevolent monarchs are few and far between.

Benevolence isn’t enough. They also have to be really smart, competent, and motivated.

Re: The Language of Democracy

#25

Is democracy a good idea? Is it working out for India and Mexico and the rest of the middle-income countries? We're all supposed to love Democracy by default but ... I don't know anymore.

Democracy is a system of government, not an economic model. You could easily argue, simultaneously: 1. Capitalism has failed in those countries, even if in different times and places one could say capitalism has succeeded 2. India and Mexico have major issues with their democracies—if a democracy is a system of government in which the citizens of a state hold collective power over their government, then there are man…

> Democracy is a system of government, not an economic model.

For the longest time, "Democracy" the political system was bandied about to be the primary precondition for economic progress.

The thinking was, that when people (countries) have democracy this somehow "empowers" them to become economically successful.

This reasoning was fairly prevalent, after all, the U.S., the showcase of democracy, was such an economic powerhouse. Worth noting as well is that democracy was normally peddled with economic liberalization, free trade, etc.

After China's rise however, the idea that democracy is a necessary for economic prosperity has more or less been debunked. China has demonstrated that democracy is not a precondition for economic prosperity.

Now, developing countries are faced with the question, what political model should be followed? If economic prosperity is the objective, the Chinese model seems to be promising. On the other hand, what does democracy have to offer? Looking at the U.S. as the showcase of democracy, what does the U.S. have that a developing country would find worth emulating?

Re: The Language of Democracy

#26
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Feminists were not disparaging motherhood or unpaid work like if it was above them to do it. Were? When are we talking about? This sounds like Lasch, in the 90s or maybe 80s, comparing 3rd wave feminism to 2nd wave feminism. However, now it sounds like he's critiquing 4th wave feminism, which is significantly more debased. I think you are talking past him either way, but it helps to be specific. Ultimately, your cl…

What do you think 4th wave feminism is?

Great question! I don't have a certain answer, but I will say this again: debased.

Re: The Language of Democracy

#27
post #12

Is democracy a good idea? Is it working out for India and Mexico and the rest of the middle-income countries? We're all supposed to love Democracy by default but ... I don't know anymore.

Government is a thing that forces everyone to follow their rules. You can’t opt in or opt out. On face value that’s extremely coercive and bad. I think of democracy as a “good idea” being not necessarily about being the system that delivers the best governance outcomes, but rather about providing some measure of legitimacy for the coercion inherent to government.

Phrased another way, the strength of democratic systems is that they reduce the tail risk of extremely negative governance outcomes, not that they improve the expectation of overall governance outcomes.

Re: The Language of Democracy

#28
post #17
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You want a monarchy?

Personally, I've always believed the best form of government is an absolute monarchy headed by a benevolent monarch. The problem with that, of course, is benevolent monarchs are few and far between.

Probably, both "benevolent monarchs" and non-corrupt democratic politicians do not exist in reality.

Re: The Language of Democracy

#29

Also recommended: "The Language of the Third Reich" - the language of authoritarian fascism. It's scary to see aspects of it being used all around the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTI_%E2%80%93_Lingua_Tertii_Im... This is taught in German schools, but should be taught everywhere https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTI_%E2%80%93_Lingua_Tertii_Im...

One of the examples here strikes a parallel with the US government's "Enhanced Interrogation" used as a euphemism for torture starting during the bush years.

Straight from the Nazi playbook: "Verschärfte Vernehmung ("intensified interrogation"): torture"

Re: The Language of Democracy

#30
post #18
post #7

What democracy? Please show me a true democracy The US is not it

If that's your threshold then a true anything has never been tried.

Are you saying the US political system is the gold standard / state of the art democracy model?
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