Emperor Trump Has No Clothes...

[trish]

We are a democratic republic. If you don't like it, leave it.

[TJ347]

Ah, so now we're a republic, are we? Very good. Of course, we could've resolved this quite some time ago, but better late than never.

[trish]

A democratic republic.

[robertlouis]

A democratic republic.

Democratic Republic? That's what they call the Congo, Trish, so I wouldn't push it too far....

[trish]

That makes them a republic too, according to TJ. So what? We talk about spreading democracy, not spreading republics. In modern parlance he term "democracy" has wide application.

[TJ347]

And moving on... I suspect the Donald Trump Presidential Exploratory Committee will shortly announce that a Trump candidacy is not viable at this time. We will however see Trump reappear in four years only for his exploratory committee to ultimately make the same decision.

[robertlouis]

That makes them a republic too, according to TJ. So what? We talk about spreading democracy, not spreading republics. In modern parlance he term "democracy" has wide application.

Yep, and as demonstrated on this thread, the type of "democracy" we spread is infinitely flexible according to circumstance.

Exhibit 1 - Iraq.

And don't get me started on US policy in Latin America, where for long enough "democracy" and "dictatorship" tended to mean much the same thing.

[robertlouis]

And moving on... I suspect the Donald Trump Presidential Exploratory Committee will shortly announce that a Trump candidacy is not viable at this time. We will however see Trump reappear in four years only for his exploratory committee to ultimately make the same decision.

Shit. Obama would have been a shoo-in.

[TJ347]

Obama will have no serious trouble with re-election. Republicans desperately need an "everyman" candidate, which was what made Bush Jr. so attractive to the voting public (at least early on). When a guy can shoot hoops or play a saxophone, folks tend to like that. Republicans need guys who are more relateable, and Trump certainly isn't that.

[Stavros]

North Korea claims to be a democracy, as does the People's Republic of China; East Germany was offically the 'German People's Democratic Republic' and so on: the problem with democracy is that it has enough flexibility for all sorts of honest lawyers and bent rascals to claim it for themselves, if only to wrap themselves in an assumed respectability -the proof is in the pudding: can you change your government by voting? Yes; does it change the 'structure' of politics? Rarely. Israelis vote for their government, using a list system where the entire country is one constituency -you vote for a list of party candidates and the ones at the top get the top jobs if their party wins the most votes -the Palestinians in the occupied territories are excluded: is Israel a democracy? In Israel, yes, in the Occupied Territories, no. And so on. Res Publica means 'rule by the people', not exalted citizens who are differentiated from slaves and barbarians; not by men and women who have crowns on their heads and centuries of inherited 'rights', whose blood is 'blue', and to whom I should bend my knee.

The quality of government, I think, is where the main focus of the argument should be, and the details of policy; doesn't set many hearts racing or look good on tv, but its where the war is won or lost.