U.S. drinking water widely contaminated with 'forever chemicals': report

Post by darawk » Wed, Jan 29, 2020, 1:42 AM UTC

meowface wrote: post #385

darawk wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't say that it was the only way to do it. What I said is that the US is currently more democratic than it ever has been. Obama, and later Trump, are the most truly democratic presidents we've ever had. They were chosen by the people, without regard to the traditional elite process that more or less determines the nominee.

In what way have past presidents been determined by elites more so than they have now? The US doesn't really seem any more or less democratic than it's been for the previous 100 years. I agree this is what democracy looks like, though. Demagogues like Trump (if one agrees that he's a demagogue; many surely disagree) are a likely eventual outcome of it, though they also have an advantage in almost every other system.

Post by darawk » Thu, Jan 30, 2020, 11:51 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #412

darawk wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In what way have past presidents been determined by elites more so than they have now? The US doesn't really seem any more or less democratic than it's been for the previous 100 years. The primary process has been dominated by elite party members basically since the inception of the country.

> The primary process has been dominated by elite party members basically since the inception of the country. Having a “primary process” is a actually a very new, more democratic change; it hasn't existed since the inception of the country; historically, Presidential nominations conducted directly and exclusively by insiders; originally usually by the party’s Congressional caucus, later (starting mid-19th Century and…