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Post by curiousgeorge on Mar 4, 2010 18:30:54 GMT
...I would say that American Democracy and electoral system could be graded not higher than a ´C´class In operation, you are probably correct. But that is not how it was designed. The system, as designed, is a representative Republic. Representatives are elected by citizens. There are two chambers: the House of Representatives (apportioned by population) and the Senate (apportioned by State). The House was designed to respond to the citizens quickly (two year terms). The Senate (six year terms) was designed to mitigate mob action by the House (see "Shay's Rebellion"). The reasoning behind such seeming complexity was simple: historically, pure democracies seldom survive more than 200 years (see "The Federalist Papers"). The framers of the Constitution were well-read in history and the nature of humankind. (John Adams entered Harvard at 16, having passed oral exams including Latin and Greek.) The Constitution was written so that the bedrock of this nation would not be subject to the whims of the "rulers". There is one other underlying principle: The citizens (indeed, all of mankind) own the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (endowment). Citizens assign the exercise of a portion of these rights to government. So there are some clues to movements or people with tyrannical impulses. These contend: - The Constitution is obsolete
- There is no such thing as an endowment
- This nation is / should be a Democracy
- Let's have a straight up-or-down majority vote
As Benjamin Franklin is reported to have said, when asked what kind of government had been framed by the Constitutional Convention: "A Republic, Madam, if you can keep it."
By the way, scpg02, nice illustration! ;D Good summary, Pooh. Those first 3 things you mention (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness ) are exactly what chaffs those who would turn this country into something it was never intended to be, and is one of the reasons we have the 1st & 2nd amendments. We the People intend to keep what we wrought 234 years ago, and it's why members of the Armed Forces and our politicians swear allegiance to the Constitution, instead of to a person. That said, occasionally some elected politician will forget that oath of office and need to be reminded of it. That's been happening a lot lately.
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Post by scpg02 on Mar 5, 2010 1:46:22 GMT
By the way, scpg02, nice illustration! ;D Thanks!
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Post by scpg02 on Mar 5, 2010 1:55:38 GMT
Good summary, Pooh. Those first 3 things you mention (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness ) are exactly what chaffs those who would turn this country into something it was never intended to be, and is one of the reasons we have the 1st & 2nd amendments. We the People intend to keep what we wrought 234 years ago, and it's why members of the Armed Forces and our politicians swear allegiance to the Constitution, instead of to a person. That said, occasionally some elected politician will forget that oath of office and need to be reminded of it. That's been happening a lot lately. The bill of rights is the ten commandments, thou shalt nots, for the federal government. It was never intended to outline what rights we have, only what the government must never do. And just for informational purposes I draw your attention to The Oath Keepers. That said, hats off and God bless to the 3%ers. I had a pictures of an active duty serviceman wearing not only the oath keepers patch but the 3%ers patch as well. I'll post it if I come across it. Edit: Ok I found it here: Active Duty Troops In Iraq Are Wearing Oath Keeper Tabs
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Post by stranger on Mar 5, 2010 2:38:09 GMT
Well, Carlos, I can understand your feelings. But from my viewpoint, the major problem with American elections is a surfeit of candidates. Some of the voters in Tuesday's Texas primaries had to select from more than 300 candidates, running for 70 or more offices. It is the electorate's duty to inform themselves about the candidates and the offices - but it is understandable that many voted for the Governor and Lt. (vice) governors offices and guessed about candidates for the other 68 plus offices. The result is as you see. The complexity discourages many voters before they go to the polls. Many more cannot take part of a work day off to vote. So perhaps only half of those who should vote do vote. Yet Americans have muddled through with this imperfect system for two centuries. You are correct in one respect, though, Carlos. Many of us believe the last Presidential election was rigged - bought and paid for, by one man and his money. The man? George Soros. The money? They call Soros the "bubble master," a creator of economic bubbles, who enriches himself on the misfortunes of others. That money. Do Americans strive to correct this problem? Indeed, my friend, we do. But we still try to work within the system, to "vote the rascals out" and not take to the barricades. Of course, should the "rascals" step across that imaginary line, Americans are quite capable of sudden and violent action. After all, some thirty million Americans are veterans of one war or another. Add that to the 600 million or so guns, housed in 65 million American homes, and you can see why Japanese Admiral Yamamoto famously said "You cannot invade America. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass." Those rifles are quite capable of moving to the other side of the blade of grass, should the attack come from within. Remember, a Republic is a form of government with a weak standing army - and a powerful and well armed citizenry. When the people are convinced that government has overstepped its bounds there will be a series of warnings, followed by a quick and decisive correction. Here is a link to one of the warnings, click on the image for a better view. iowntheworld.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/capitol-view-lo-res.jpgThere have been many "estimates" of that crowd, but few have bothered to analyze the transportation that brought those people there. From the number and capacity of the vehicles, there were probably a million and a half people in that crowd. That would be a large crowd, even in Madrid. Adios, Carlos. Vaya con dios. Stranger
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Post by curiousgeorge on Mar 5, 2010 2:53:09 GMT
Good summary, Pooh. Those first 3 things you mention (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness ) are exactly what chaffs those who would turn this country into something it was never intended to be, and is one of the reasons we have the 1st & 2nd amendments. We the People intend to keep what we wrought 234 years ago, and it's why members of the Armed Forces and our politicians swear allegiance to the Constitution, instead of to a person. That said, occasionally some elected politician will forget that oath of office and need to be reminded of it. That's been happening a lot lately. The bill of rights is the ten commandments, thou shalt nots, for the federal government. It was never intended to outline what rights we have, only what the government must never do. And just for informational purposes I draw your attention to The Oath Keepers. That said, hats off and God bless to the 3%ers. I had a pictures of an active duty serviceman wearing not only the oath keepers patch but the 3%ers patch as well. I'll post it if I come across it. Edit: Ok I found it here: Active Duty Troops In Iraq Are Wearing Oath Keeper TabsI'm aware of that particular movement. I took the oath in 1963 and spent the next 30 years on active and reserve duty.
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Post by scpg02 on Mar 5, 2010 6:56:03 GMT
I'm aware of that particular movement. I took the oath in 1963 and spent the next 30 years on active and reserve duty. Thank you for your service.
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Post by scpg02 on Mar 5, 2010 7:01:38 GMT
After all, some thirty million Americans are veterans of one war or another. Add that to the 600 million or so guns, housed in 65 million American homes, and you can see why Japanese Admiral Yamamoto famously said "You cannot invade America. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass." Those rifles are quite capable of moving to the other side of the blade of grass, should the attack come from within. I should post this as a separate article but you may find this interesting. www.ammoland.com/2010/01/13/gun-owners-buy-14-million-plus-guns-in-2009/USA Gun Owners Buy 14 Million Plus Guns In 2009 – More Than 21 of the Worlds Standing Armies CombinedThat is 14,033,824,000 billion+ rounds of Ammo..you think that is why we have an Ammo shortage?iowntheworld.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/capitol-view-lo-res.jpgThere have been many "estimates" of that crowd, but few have bothered to analyze the transportation that brought those people there. From the number and capacity of the vehicles, there were probably a million and a half people in that crowd. That would be a large crowd, even in Madrid. Adios, Carlos. Vaya con dios. Stranger The National Parks Service came out and said it was the largest protest ever held.
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