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Comment Re:Flaws in our democracy (Score 1) 904

Some people with dark skin who lived in a certain antebellum representative democracy would like to have a talk with you.

We weren't really a representative democracy at that point since large segments of the population couldn't even vote. "Constitutional Republic" is the accepted term so far as I know.

In the meantime, remember that we inherited most of our law from England, which had a legislature when we broke from them.

A legislature that the king can and did dissolve at will. After a few rounds of this the legislature enters a state of learned helplessness, assuming a powerful sovereign. Plus, only nobles were allowed to be members of the upper house; the House of Commons was not nearly as powerful back then (and the name was deceptive; few actually had the right to vote). The UK is not now and never has been a democracy, which was my original point.

I was responding to a very broad, extreme argument that sovereign immunity and state secrets are somehow anathema to democracy per se, despite the fact that they have historically been a part of pretty much every government I've ever seen or heard of.

That's because they are anathema. We are not a democracy. At this point, I wouldn't even call America a constitutional republic. We are an oligarchy. We don't respect our own Constitution and freely ignore it when it gets in the way of precioussss state secrets.

Of course, I don't believe we should even have a standing army, let alone an NSA, Federal Reserve or CIA outside the full jurisdiction of Congress.

As far as actually respecting the Constitution our framers gave us, you'll find me slightly to the right of Antonin Scalia.

Ah, well that explains a lot. Those dark-skinned folks who were originally worth 3/5ths of a person would like to talk with you.

I guess you'll find me to the left of Thomas Jefferson, but we don't live in Jefferson's Republic. We live in Scalia's Oligarchy.

Comment Re:Flaws in our democracy (Score 1) 904

But the democracy you envision is crippled, weak, and ineffective. A crippled, weak, and ineffective democracy will fail, just as surely as an over-reaching, oppressive, dictatorial democracy.

You are contradicting yourself. A "oppressive, dictatorial democracy" is not a democracy at all; it's a totalitarian state masquerading as a democracy for PR purposes. You know, like North Korea, or ahem, "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)".

And we've always had sovereign immunity. We inherited it from other democracies.

Again, no. We did not inherit from "other democracies" because democracies do not have such laws. We inherited this law from a monarchy, which itself stole the idea from the Pope. The "Sovereign" in question was the pope or king before the idea was expanded to include the whole government.

I don't think we have to put our military secrets up on Facebook to be a more transparent and democratic country. But the very basis of our Constitution is the idea that the government is not above the law. After all the Constitution is a list of things that government can't do, or must do, not a list of things the citizens can't do. We were created equal and free, remember?

If you have problems with the philosophy of freedom our forefather's embraced, might I suggest that you move to a different country? This country is for people who want to continue the democratic experiment. If that frightens you, why not move to the UK.... or the DPRK?

Music

Submission + - iTunes Staffers Becomes Music's New Gatekeepers

WSJdpatton writes: "From their Silicon Valley cubicles, Apple staffers have become music's unlikely power brokers. A look at how Apple has jettisoned some of the conventions of traditional music retailing — notably, the practice of selling prime promotional spots to recording companies willing to pay for better visibility for their acts. Still, behind the scenes there's plenty of horse-trading going on that influences which songs are seen and purchased by iTunes customers."
Businesses

Submission + - Is A Bad Attitude Damaging The IT Profession?

dtienes writes: "Why does IT get a free pass to insult users? Slamming customers isn't acceptable in any other profession; doctors don't call their patients "meatbags" — at least, not publicly. But IT professionals think nothing of wearing their scorn on their sleeves (or at least their chests — just check out ThinkGeek). There's more at stake here than just a few hard feelings. IT may be seriously damaging the credibility of the profession. See the essay I'm An Idiot (And Other Lessons From The IT Department) for a former IT professional turned user's take on insults, attitudes and ethics. (Full disclosure: The submitter is also the author.)"

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