I don't think America is still a democracy

[Whovian]

Obama's health care wishes were defeated by the moneyed interests that assure or defeat any politician's chance of electability. When America hit dire straits the government decided to support the rich rather than its population.

There are constant pushes towards Randian philosophies that the rich are the only ones that can help the country survive. Bull shit.

This country is toast unless we get some real people back into Congress and the Senate who care more about the electorate than their bank accounts. Slim chance.

[patrice]

1. It never was. It's a democratic REPUBLIC, meaning that the people do not represent themselves.

The Constitution provides for how "the people" will select representation and that process, selecting representation, has gone through several permutations that became necessary as the original process encoded slavery and privilege to the white, male, propertied class. Is it any wonder that what we have now is still skewed by these foundational facts, especially when you look at truths such as the fact that it took over 200 years for minorities and Black Americans to acquire the right to vote and it is almost just that bad for women too?

A republic more or less directly, more or less democratically, selects its representation. We have been arguing about how our representation is selected ever since the Constitutional Convention, with the advent of Citizens' United, our representation has become even less directly selected than it ever has been in many of our lifetimes.

[quinnox]

2. And another thing this country deperately needs is a fire breathing liberal president

Someone who can make being liberal a "cool" and acceptable thing again, a take no prisoners type in the presidency. That alone would be such a major change it would bring a lot of benefits and possibly halt this downward spiral America has been in for at least a decade. No doubt its a long shot for such a candidate to arise, get funded, win the nomination, and then win the presidency, but its not an impossibility at least.

[patrice]

4. Too top down. The people MUST make being liberal "cool" again. This means being constantly

active everywhere on behalf of Liberal values and policies.

One effective way to do this, but which requires a great deal of work and is therefore ignored, is to run "down-ballot" Liberal candidates within the existing political structure, or find one to work for. This bottom-up kind of work puts liberals out there in our neighborhoods talking one on one with the people. I think this sort of thing should go on all of the time, not just in election years. The objective is education, to steer around the churches and media who are lying about Liberals, to demonstrate authentic respect for what people think and know about their own lives, and to look for opportunities to maximize their responses to their own responsibilities.

This kind of effort usually does not succeed quickly, but every last contact should be valued and maintained anyway as the soil in which authentic freedom can and does grow.

[grantcart]

3. Good. Its a Constitutional Republic

The Constitution lays out principles that cannot be decided by a democratic majority.

In the middle of the Iraqi war decentralized democracy was achieved. The majority will of the neighbors of one Sunni neighborhood drove away the Shia minority while on the otherside of town a Shia majority inflicted democratic principles on their Sunni neighbors.

Now which direction this country can go is up to the democratic process by the people. If the people are too lazy to turn off the TV, read a book and think for themselves then the powerful will take it. It isn't so much that there are people who want to buy other peoples power its that so many people are willing to sell it, or even worse just give it away.

[MineralMan]

5. Unless you are absolutely certain you are part of the stable majority,

you do not want to live in a democracy. What you want is a democratic republic, with a Constitution that aims to prevent the majority from persecuting the minority. That's what we have here. It works better sometimes than other times, but it is still bound to that Constitution.

A democracy can remove the rights of the minority in a single action. That is not something you want, I'm sure.

[Whovian]

6. Semantics aside, Our government no longer serves its populace.

[truebluegreen]

7. Completely agree.

Checks and Balances notwithstanding, our government, legislative, judiciary, and executive (which includes the regulatory agencies) branches, has been captured by Big Money and Corporations.

On social issues that don't cost much we get a few tidbits but that's about it. The Democrats very occasionally get something through, but for Republicans it has been decades since they even pretended to care.

I'm tired of being treated like a commodity by a government that is supposed to be serving my interests.

[Doc_Technical]

8. "Democracy

is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch."

[oberliner]

9. Who is that quote by?

Seem to be conflicting claims online.

Do you know the source?

[treestar]

10. People don't vote just on who has the most money

there's a point where the spending no longer matters much. The Presidential race gets enough attention that it should not matter.

IMO the problem is people don't pay enough attention to state or local races or even Congress and Senate races. Who will be listening to debates on those? Does even local TV do them? It's funny how many will watch the POTUS debates, when most people have made up their mind and the debate is not going to matter much. But will they even know who is running to be their representative in Congress? Do they follow what the winner does in office once he or she is in office? No, we obsess over what the President is doing.

[Nye Bevan]

11. I voted for Obama because (in part) I wanted health insurers to be forced to cover pre-existing

conditions.

Obama won, Obamacare passed, and now insurance companies will be forced to cover pre-existing conditions.

So the system is kind of working.

[jody]

12. US was never a Democracy because We the People reserved some rights and powers to ourselves and

as Abraham Lincoln said. "This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember it or overthrow it."

The Bill of Rights addresses rights and powers retained by the People that protect us against the tyranny of a simple majority under a democracy.

[mick063]

13. ALEC writes our legislation

The elected politicians just rubber stamp it.

This country is truly run by corporate America.

[jody]

14. Agree please come to attention, salute, and repeat the following

[xchrom]

15. Our 'republic' is as broken as can be.

And our democratic institutions facilitated it's demise.