Democracy is a joke
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Peace
Zulf
Yup, you are right on just about all the points you make about democracy, but you forgot one.
The USA is NOT a democracy...
Exactly. Its all a fascade. Funny thing is, most people dont even realize that their votes for the president don't count, yet the media and the government try to fool the people with all the ads/campaigns about voting. What a joke.
Peace
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Well the votes themselves do count, and some serious monitoring goes into making sure that they do...
The point that we are not a democracy, is because our government does not do
what we elect them to do... We elected democrats to end the war and they failed to do so..When we elect a government with a two party system they play games there on capitol hill
bargining over what bills they will support with each other, instead of voting the will of the people...If we had a multiple party system, where the mood of the people could be reflected in government
then we would have a democracy..But we have a Republic, and that is why George W. Bush can get away with what he does...
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you know zulf you make several good points...
the thing with our western political systems, positive attributes or negative flaws, is that they have developed over centuries... you talk about feudalism and monarchy, well those are systems which existed in western countries previously, and we have had to evolve away from them... and even in some countries like the uk where a constitutional monarchy exists and the monarchy doesn't have as much power as they used to, that monarchy still exists as a figurehead... in canada we still have a governor general who acts as the queen's "representative" in canada, and although there is never much issue, the governor general still signs bills into law on behalf of the queen... not that the queen has ever said "no don't sign that one" since it doesn't quite work that way... it's mostly a ceremonial function at the present time
anyways i am seeing alot of different information about benazir bhutto these days... allegations of criminal activity and wrongdoing, accusations of dynasty making, etc...
but in a country like pakistan where so many people are so poor, i just wonder how it's possible that someone so rich can truly represent the will of the people
sounds alot like hollywood to me, where people latch on to issues and talk about helping the sick and poor, but still drive fancy cars that could put all the poor people they mention through school
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Peace
Yes that is true the electorial votes are used for the presidential election, but
there has only been one time where the person voted against the popular
vote...In other words, the peoples votes do not count. I believe that the presidency is just like the politcal machine. The government (or whoever is really behind it) only looks out for its own interests. You probably have more knowledge on this issue than I do though )
Peace
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Oh i think you are pretty much on target... the proof is in the pudding as they say, doesn't really matter about the details...
The good news is that we have the opportunity to take the White House away from the Republicans this New Year...
There are some very good people running for President, and I am optomistic about our future....
I believe I am going to support Obama, because I believe his heart is in the right place....
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Countries of Europe developed over a certain period of time... and it involved all people, the whole nation... everyone was on the train. In developing countries today with large populations (Pakistan, India, China etc), only PARTS of the country developes. You will find much hi-tech and modern stuff, but the large part of the society is lagging FAR behind. It is like two nations within one... and it seems VERY difficult to merge the two again... almost as difficult as it would be to have african countries reach the same level as european. Really, within one nation, you have two(at least) different worlds.
This means that there is no longer a sense of unity in the country... which in turn means hostility, separatism, despair. When the sense of unity is gone, then people don't feel they are part of the country, as much as they should. This leads to people not feeling responsible, and no-one will put in effort to improve things, on-one gives a sh#t, and the society is left to detoriate, simply becasue people don't care anymore... they see no point in caring... they don't think it will help their situation anyway.
No sense of unity/partnership -> no sense of responsibility -> no caring -> no effort put in -> no quality in anything
Pakistan's founding fathers had these three words/concepts in mind for the new country Unity, Faith, Discipline. I can't see any of that today, unfortunately.
One can see how important unity is... and the quran will tell you the same thing! What is needed is not 100% consensus in everything, or everyone having the same religion or such extreme situations. What is needed is unity in positivity, unity in mutual respect, unity in seeking understanding, unity in agreeing to have win-win situations, unity in agreeing to improve things for eveyone, regardless of group. We must see that we are all human beings. We are all one kind. Division is artificial. Unity is essential.
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Countries of Europe developed over a certain period of time... and it involved all people, the whole nation... everyone was on the train. In developing countries today with large populations (Pakistan, India, China etc), only PARTS of the country developes. You will find much hi-tech and modern stuff, but the large part of the society is lagging FAR behind. It is like two nations within one... and it seems VERY difficult to merge the two again... almost as difficult as it would be to have african countries reach the same level as european. Really, within one nation, you have two(at least) different worlds.
This means that there is no longer a sense of unity in the country... which in turn means hostility, separatism, despair. When the sense of unity is gone, then people don't feel they are part of the country, as much as they should. This leads to people not feeling responsible, and no-one will put in effort to improve things, on-one gives a sh#t, and the society is left to detoriate, simply becasue people don't care anymore... they see no point in caring... they don't think it will help their situation anyway.
No sense of unity/partnership -> no sense of responsibility -> no caring -> no effort put in -> no quality in anything
Pakistan's founding fathers had these three words/concepts in mind for the new country Unity, Faith, Discipline. I can't see any of that today, unfortunately.
One can see how important unity is... and the quran will tell you the same thing! What is needed is not 100% consensus in everything, or everyone having the same religion or such extreme situations. What is needed is unity in positivity, unity in mutual respect, unity in seeking understanding, unity in agreeing to have win-win situations, unity in agreeing to improve things for eveyone, regardless of group. We must see that we are all human beings. We are all one kind. Division is artificial. Unity is essential.
I agree 100% with that and from reading about the founding fathers of Pakistan this is the idea to setup a nation from studying the Quran. But people have forgot this especially the leaders of the country.
PEACE
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I agree 100% with that and from reading about the founding fathers of Pakistan this is the idea to setup a nation from studying the Quran. But people have forgot this especially the leaders of the country.
PEACE
The word "Democracy" has been used as a "buzzword" by politicians all over the world.
Just like the word "Islam" (and maybe also quran) has been used as a "buzzword" by sunni, shia and other sectarian groups.What any country or culture need is a way to resolve conflicts and disagreement peacefully and intellectually.
(without civil / tribal war, physical conlfict etc..)
and a continously check and balance mechanism put in place for controlling the government.Otherwise dictatorship and authoritarian regime will sprung up and wreaking havoc in the society.
Good example of this in the quran is FIRAUN...
Unchecked power equals corrupted power..A good government system which based on "democracy" (the concept not the idiom) came with "voting/election" as a final and acceptable mechanism to resolve conflicts / disagrement and a separation of powers / roles in the government (executive, legislative, judicial).
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_powers -
Peace Daud
Oh i think you are pretty much on target... the proof is in the pudding as they say, doesn't really matter about the details...
The good news is that we have the opportunity to take the White House away from the Republicans this New Year...
There are some very good people running for President, and I am optomistic about our future....
I believe I am going to support Obama, because I believe his heart is in the right place....
One thing that I dont like about the campaigns is how they all bad mouth each other. I think that if they truly cared for the people, they would talk about issues that the people want to hear. It may be a good thing to expose corrupt people, but I dont think thats their motive. I dont really know much about Obama, but I wasnt impressed when he had Oprah come out since the only reason was star power.
Do you think that the government is run like the political machine? Also, I remember hearing about the Federal Reserve being privately owned, but something about how some of the people in charge, I think governors, are elected. I heard this awhile back in school, can you elaborate on that?
Peace
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Obama's Offical Response to my inquiry about his supporting Aparthied in Israel....
Dear Friend,
Thank you for contacting me about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.
I traveled to the Middle East in January 2006, where I met with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders, as well as ordinary citizens in both communities. This visit increased my understanding of the challenges that confront the people who live in the region and our diplomatic efforts there, but also my resolve to make a difference.
The best solution to this difficult conflict is two states living side-by-side in peace and security. I believe the vast majority of Israelis and Palestinians support this outcome. What is needed is a far more vigorous U.S. diplomatic effort to help them achieve it. But the current administration has sat on the sidelines for far too long. As president, I would make a personal commitment to this effort.
Israel is our closest ally in the Middle East, and we are obligated to help ensure its security. A negotiated peace with the Palestinians would make Israel more secure and allow the Palestinians to achieve their goal of an independent state. We should be doing more to strengthen Palestinian leaders who support a two-state solution, isolate those who seek Israel's destruction, and help the two sides reach negotiated solutions to all outstanding issues.
An agreement that fulfills the legitimate aspirations of both the Israeli and the Palestinian peoples is the only path to peace, and I will continue to work toward this end. Thank you again for contacting me on this issue.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
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Everyone talks about democracy. Western countries see themselves as inventors, masters, protectors, teachers and ideals of democracy. Western countries demand developing countries to become democracies, especially the muslim countries. Benazir Bhutto has been labelled a champ and chance of democracy for Pakistan. West thinks it was very unfortunate that this champ of democracy was slain by the evil democracy-haters.
Here is what I think
These are the code words actually so its not democracy but Duh mockery and like ?I wreck? (Iraq) -
The USA has a representative democracy.
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representative_democracyOne really good thing about it. You don't have to go around killing your opponent, or those of differing political opinions. You just don't vote for them.
If they still win, wait a few years and vote the person into office that has your political opinion. The ruling party is usually counter-balanced by people in office with opposing views.
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But after you get your people in office it takes too long to get the bad apples out...
We need REAL democracy... not a Republic
We need a government that reflects the MOOD of the people...
One good thing about the Israeli government, is that they can
all be thrown out in 60 days if the mood of the people changes,
and the minority has REAL power there...Now if they would let ALL the people vote we would
have a Muslim Prime Minister of Israel... Then there will be Peace on this planet..End the Aparthied of Israel, reject a two state solution, lobby for
voting rights of ALL the people of Israel... -
LOL!! I do like that addition. Do they revote or give the office to the runner-up?
After a election the seats in the Kennsett are divided up by the percentage of the Vote
for each party...To form a government a party needs 60 seats, since that never happens, the
majority party must get other minority parties to throw thier seats into a government
so you could have 10 parties making up a government. The Prime Minister is named
from the Majority Party. If any of the parties don't like what is going on they can
vote no confidence, and the government has 60 days to find the 60 seats again,
if they can't do it, then they must re-elect the seats from popular vote -
Why is it that in a jury, a majority is not enough, you have to have a unanimous vote?
Democracy doesn't work because most people don't think for themselves. They follow what they want to follow, they let their emotions lead them.
We know from history how easy it is to manipulate the masses (Hitler, Stalin, Bush).
Especially in a country as large as the US or India there's no way the people can have true representative democracy.But still, I'd still pick democracy over a monarchy, dictatorship or theocracy. At least in a democracy you have a chance of bringing about change.
Democracy isn't perfect, it is susceptible to corruption (I don't think a "true democracy" can last very long, definitely not 200 years), but I wonder if this is really the best we can do.
It seems to me that the flaws of democracy are the result of the flaws in human nature.