Current Events > The US is a strange democracy:

(+) Yeah! (+)

In my country we have elections every forth year. Just like in the US. But if the opposition comes to power, they would never rule back a law that the former govrnment had inserted.
That's the road to an unstable country: Not to be trusted.

calling the US a democracy is a bit on the generous side
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What country are you from?

Also the US democracy is a joke and a facade. Its an Oligarchy run by people with money and power

Tony_Biggie_Pun posted...

Also the US democracy is a joke and a facade. Its an Oligarchy run by people with money and power

I have a tinfoil hat for you.
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Tony_Biggie_Pun posted...

Also the US democracy is a joke and a facade. Its an Oligarchy run by people with money and power

pretty much
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Yeah the US system is quite strange. Most democratic countries have a one person-one vote rule.
The winner takes all is also very weird, where most countries gain seats in government based on percentages of the vote won, in the US you can win a state by a minimal margin and obtain all the power. Quite odd.
The US is so fanatical about the guidelines that the founding fathers established hundreds of years ago in different times and situations that it blinds them and prevents them from changing in a significant way now.
They just refuse to let go of old rules that don't make sense any more.
Of course there is also the money and how politics is funded in the US that is very corrupt. Lobbyists and banks have way more influence than they should and politicians spend more time raising money for the next election than actually doing their job.
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byron posted...

young_flip posted...

Tony_Biggie_Pun posted...

Also the US democracy is a joke and a facade. Its an Oligarchy run by people with money and power

pretty much

Nikra posted...

In my country we have elections every forth year. Just like in the US. But if the opposition comes to power, they would never rule back a law that the former govrnment had inserted.
That's the road to an unstable country: Not to be trusted.

I'm not very familiar with Danish parliamentary politics (in fact, do you have a source that gives like a brief overview of the latest decades or something? It's fine if it's in Danish) but I somehow don't believe that. Overall, though, I still agree with you - with a multi-party parliament, things are a little bit more inert and change happens slower (which IMO is good and necessary).
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That's cause it's a republic not a democracy.
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lilJoe457 posted...

That's cause it's a republic not a democracy.

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scar the 1 posted...

Nikra posted...

In my country we have elections every forth year. Just like in the US. But if the opposition comes to power, they would never rule back a law that the former govrnment had inserted.
That's the road to an unstable country: Not to be trusted.

I'm not very familiar with Danish parliamentary politics (in fact, do you have a source that gives like a brief overview of the latest decades or something? It's fine if it's in Danish) but I somehow don't believe that. Overall, though, I still agree with you - with a multi-party parliament, things are a little bit more inert and change happens slower (which IMO is good and necessary).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Denmark

Could make a lot of money selling tinfoil in this thread.
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It probably has happened at some point in Denmark too. There have been many laws that haven't been attempted to be undone by the opposition in recent US history too, it is worth pointing out.

There are some big controversial laws like the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) that were put in place under Obama that Republicans are now trying to undo, but so far all three efforts to do so have failed. They couldn't get enough votes.

So the democracy probably isn't as flip-floppy as you think it is. There's a lot of rhetoric, but at the end of the day, they still have to get a lot of votes in Congress to actually do that, and they very rarely ever do.
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Tony_Biggie_Pun posted...

Also the US democracy is a joke and a facade. Its an Oligarchy run by people with money and power

Lordsai posted...

Tony_Biggie_Pun posted...

Also the US democracy is a joke and a facade. Its an Oligarchy run by people with money and power

Correct, because it's not a democracy and never was. The founding fathers were staunchly against a democracy.

That's why the US is a democratic republic.
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It's not a democracy it's a republic.

And yes all governments repeal laws, what cooky la la land are you liberals living in?

It's barely a republic. People with money and power can influence congress and the president to do whatever they want regardless of the voting. That includes what the US does in the US and all over the world.

Sativa_Rose posted...

It probably has happened at some point in Denmark too. There have been many laws that haven't been attempted to be undone by the opposition in recent US history too, it is worth pointing out.

There are some big controversial laws like the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) that were put in place under Obama that Republicans are now trying to undo, but so far all three efforts to do so have failed. They couldn't get enough votes.

So the democracy probably isn't as flip-floppy as you think it is. There's a lot of rhetoric, but at the end of the day, they still have to get a lot of votes in Congress to actually do that, and they very rarely ever do.

You forgot to tell that lobyists are ruling the US.

That's true too, but even with all the lobbyists (like the ones who basically wrote Obamacare), it still is not all that flip floppy. Once the lobbyist-controlled Congressmen are able to get something passed, it's a lot harder to get it repealed than you are making it out to be. All of the big legislative bills since like George W. Bush are still there for the most part, like the PATRIOT ACT (which was basically extended with the USA Freedom Act), The Affordable Care Act, Dodd-Frank, etc.

Not to mention stuff like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid which is all based on stuff passed in the 40s-60s I think, though some changes have been made.
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Nikra posted...

scar the 1 posted...

Nikra posted...

In my country we have elections every forth year. Just like in the US. But if the opposition comes to power, they would never rule back a law that the former govrnment had inserted.
That's the road to an unstable country: Not to be trusted.

I'm not very familiar with Danish parliamentary politics (in fact, do you have a source that gives like a brief overview of the latest decades or something? It's fine if it's in Danish) but I somehow don't believe that. Overall, though, I still agree with you - with a multi-party parliament, things are a little bit more inert and change happens slower (which IMO is good and necessary).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Denmark

Thanks, but I was looking more for a summary of the politics over maybe the last two decades.
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scar the 1 posted...

Thanks, but I was looking more for a summary of the politics over maybe the last two decades.

I would search for recent history of denmark or recent denmark politics or something
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Sativa_Rose posted...

It probably has happened at some point in Denmark too. There have been many laws that haven't been attempted to be undone by the opposition in recent US history too, it is worth pointing out.

There are some big controversial laws like the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) that were put in place under Obama that Republicans are now trying to undo, but so far all three efforts to do so have failed. They couldn't get enough votes.

So the democracy probably isn't as flip-floppy as you think it is. There's a lot of rhetoric, but at the end of the day, they still have to get a lot of votes in Congress to actually do that, and they very rarely ever do.

But for an outstanding like me, it looks like it's a war between republicans an former president obama: Not really give a crap about the american population.

Nikra posted...

Sativa_Rose posted...

It probably has happened at some point in Denmark too. There have been many laws that haven't been attempted to be undone by the opposition in recent US history too, it is worth pointing out.

There are some big controversial laws like the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) that were put in place under Obama that Republicans are now trying to undo, but so far all three efforts to do so have failed. They couldn't get enough votes.

So the democracy probably isn't as flip-floppy as you think it is. There's a lot of rhetoric, but at the end of the day, they still have to get a lot of votes in Congress to actually do that, and they very rarely ever do.

But for an outstanding like me, it looks like it's a war between republicans an former president obama: Not really give a crap about the american population.

It's pretty much all talk though. Very very little has actually changed in the functioning of government since Obama took office. Congress has been able to pass nothing, and the President doesn't have executive control over all that much in the grand scheme of things. He can control the military, but the same generals are all running things as when Obama was in charge, so it's really not going to be much different.

The biggest thing Trump has actually been able to do was issue an executive order telling the State Department or whatever to temporarily halt entrance to the US for people from like 7 countries or something (the "Muslim" ban), but that only lasted a few days before a federal judge struck it down. So that gives you some perspective on what they call the "checks and balances" of the US system.
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Any "democratic" country that has an election system in which the person with fewer votes can end up becoming President is a sham democracy.

Sativa_Rose posted...

Nikra posted...

Sativa_Rose posted...

It probably has happened at some point in Denmark too. There have been many laws that haven't been attempted to be undone by the opposition in recent US history too, it is worth pointing out.

There are some big controversial laws like the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) that were put in place under Obama that Republicans are now trying to undo, but so far all three efforts to do so have failed. They couldn't get enough votes.

So the democracy probably isn't as flip-floppy as you think it is. There's a lot of rhetoric, but at the end of the day, they still have to get a lot of votes in Congress to actually do that, and they very rarely ever do.

But for an outstanding like me, it looks like it's a war between republicans an former president obama: Not really give a crap about the american population.

It's pretty much all talk though. Very very little has actually changed in the functioning of government since Obama took office. Congress has been able to pass nothing, and the President doesn't have executive control over all that much in the grand scheme of things. He can control the military, but the same generals are all running things as when Obama was in charge, so it's really not going to be much different.

The biggest thing Trump has actually been able to do was issue an executive order telling the State Department or whatever to temporarily halt entrance to the US for people from like 7 countries or something (the "Muslim" ban), but that only lasted a few days before a federal judge struck it down. So that gives you some perspective on what they call the "checks and balances" of the US system.

That must be frustrating for all parties: Nothing happens. It's all talk and no action. In my country with about 9 parties in parlament. It's all about compromises. And it actual works: They don't hate each other.

Denmark is one of the best run countries in the world. It might even be #1 when you consider that its neighbor Norway gets so much of its wealth from fossil fuels, and Denmark also has an economic edge over its other neighbors on a per-capita basis.

It gets tough when you start talking about countries with populations of 50m or greater though. The UK, France, Germany, the US, etc. None of these countries are doing as well as Denmark or Norway on a per-capita basis at all. It seems harder in general to run bigger countries than smaller ones.
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Sativa_Rose posted...

Denmark is one of the best run countries in the world. It might even be #1 when you consider that its neighbor Norway gets so much of its wealth from fossil fuels, and Denmark also has an economic edge over its other neighbors on a per-capita basis.

It gets tough when you start talking about countries with populations of 50m or greater though. The UK, France, Germany, the US, etc. None of these countries are doing as well as Denmark or Norway on a per-capita basis at all. It seems harder in general to run bigger countries than smaller ones.

No it's not. The United States could literally blow Denmark into smithereens if we wanted to. It's a weak tiny nation in the grand scheme of things
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Patty_Fleur posted...

No it's not. The United States could literally blow Denmark into smithereens if we wanted to. It's a weak tiny nation in the grand scheme of things

I'm not talking about military might lol, and you have to make comparisons on a per-capita basis because the US has 60x the population or so.

But yes, even on a per-capita basis (so same # of troops) I am sure the US military could defeat Denmark's easily. Every western European country (excluding the UK) has been able to get away with not spend as much on military in the post Cold War era because the US and a few other countries pick up all the NATO slack for them.
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Sativa_Rose posted...

Denmark is one of the best run countries in the world. It might even be #1 when you consider that its neighbor Norway gets so much of its wealth from fossil fuels, and Denmark also has an economic edge over its other neighbors on a per-capita basis.

It gets tough when you start talking about countries with populations of 50m or greater though. The UK, France, Germany, the US, etc. None of these countries are doing as well as Denmark or Norway on a per-capita basis at all. It seems harder in general to run bigger countries than smaller ones.

As I stated: The parlament know that keeping Denmark stable is more important than fighting each other on a daily basis. Like they do in the US.

The two party system in the US has turned people against each other. The two party duopoly which keeps people unnecessarily divided and the issue of money in politics (legal bribery) are ultimately the core issues in US politics right now.
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Sativa_Rose posted...

Patty_Fleur posted...

No it's not. The United States could literally blow Denmark into smithereens if we wanted to. It's a weak tiny nation in the grand scheme of things

I'm not talking about military might lol, and you have to make comparisons on a per-capita basis because the US has 60x the population or so.

But yes, even on a per-capita basis (so same # of troops) I am sure the US military could defeat Denmark's easily. Every western European country (excluding the UK) has been able to get away with not spend as much on military in the post Cold War era because the US and a few other countries pick up all the NATO slack for them.

The population of new York city is bigger than Denmark. There's no point in comparing those tiny ass European nations to us. Of course the government is easy rub when nobody lives there and it's not ethically or socially diverse.
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Sativa_Rose posted...

The two party system in the US has turned people against each other. The two party duopoly which keeps people unnecessarily divided and the issue of money in politics (legal bribery) are ultimately the core issues in US politics right now.

There's one more big differents between The US and Denmark: The politicians private lives in Denmark is a no go for the press. It's not a law. It's just how it is.