Data by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Expert estimates of the extent to which citizens can choose their political leaders in free and fair elections, enjoy civil liberties, prefer democracy over other political systems, can and do participate in politics, and have a functioning government that acts on their behalf. The index ranges from 0 to 10 (most democratic).
In 2014 a Princeton study found that the will of the people has little to no influence over US government policy decisions, except for the most wealthy, who have a lot of influence. They concluded that the USA was not a true democracy but more of an oligarchy. If that system was higher than 8 out of 10 on the democracy index and all of Trump’s damage has only brought it down to very slightly below 8, the index may need recalibrating.
Bingo. We get on social media and complain while continuing to give our money to billionaires because no one will give up their small comforts or their perceived security to hit these fuckers where it hurts.
I tried explaining this to someone here a while ago but am a Russian shill…
Athenians would not see the US as a democracy at all. Neither how it’s setup nor how it plays out. There are fundamental values of democracy the US does not have and is anti-democratic by design in other areas. Just some core examples are the electoral college—obviously, appointment and conduct of the supreme court, and senate representation recognising geographic borders and not the number of voices contained within.
There’s things in place to safeguard against the pitfalls of extreme democracy, but at the same time there’s plenty aligned with the oligarchy of Athena which caused democracy to be defiantly born. It is not really “power to the people”, it is more “power to a group of people that are intended to represent the rest of the people who actually get very little say in any of it…also lobbying.”
The constitution is supposed to protect the democratic values the US does have but apparently that thing was worthless all along.
In 2014 a Princeton study found that the will of the people has little to no influence over US government policy decisions, except for the most wealthy, who have a lot of influence. They concluded that the USA was not a true democracy but more of an oligarchy. If that system was higher than 8 out of 10 on the democracy index and all of Trump’s damage has only brought it down to very slightly below 8, the index may need recalibrating.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/princeton-experts-say-us-no-longer-democracy
Bingo. We get on social media and complain while continuing to give our money to billionaires because no one will give up their small comforts or their perceived security to hit these fuckers where it hurts.
I tried explaining this to someone here a while ago but am a Russian shill…
Athenians would not see the US as a democracy at all. Neither how it’s setup nor how it plays out. There are fundamental values of democracy the US does not have and is anti-democratic by design in other areas. Just some core examples are the electoral college—obviously, appointment and conduct of the supreme court, and senate representation recognising geographic borders and not the number of voices contained within.
There’s things in place to safeguard against the pitfalls of extreme democracy, but at the same time there’s plenty aligned with the oligarchy of Athena which caused democracy to be defiantly born. It is not really “power to the people”, it is more “power to a group of people that are intended to represent the rest of the people who actually get very little say in any of it…also lobbying.”
The constitution is supposed to protect the democratic values the US does have but apparently that thing was worthless all along.