I get (a little) annoyed with Americans and especially American Politicians (who ought to be professionals in their craft) who talk about their “democracy.” It’s not a democracy. It never was. It’s a Constitutional Republic.
Completely and totally different animal.
My opinion is that any one who doesn’t know that should be excluded both from holding public office (at any level) and even from voting, until they can pass a thorough test on the American system. You know, like that one all immigrants have to pass before they can vote.
When some one in high office — a senator, or even a president — talks about “the democracy,” what is he talking about? What democracy? Where? Did he not just disqualify himself from holding office? Should he not be suspended pending an investigation into his qualifications for professional political or public administrative office?
These offices are jobs. Just jobs. All jobs have requirements, yes?
Alright, think about this: if it was really a democracy, wouldn’t you be able to designate exactly what things your tax money may be spent on what it could not be spent on? Not how much of it, maybe (the bean-counters do have their uses, after all), just what things it can be spent on and what it can not be spent on.
If you could choose, would you spend your own tax dollars to fund space exploration
or build more cruise missiles (It’s the same technology! Think about that!!) or both?
Just asking.
Then maybe the Pentagon really would have to hold bake sales to fund their bombers, and maybe education would finally have enough money for the nearly impossible job they are required to do against all odds. And maybe not. But at least the voters would have no one to blame but themselves, instead of being able to blame “Washington” for how money gets spent.
That’s the flip side of democracy: “Who did that? Oh, yeah — I did that.”
But the American tax payer has no say in what his money gets spent on. None at all. How is that a democracy?
Well, as I said, it isn’t, and it never was. Representational government is not participatory government.
Are you happy with that? Just asking.
[30]