The FDA is emphatically not a democratic institution. Who exactly do I vote for if I disagree with FDA policy? Can a civil service FDA employee be fired on the grounds of supporting a particular wildly unpopular policy?
I feel like thats a deliberate misreading of the parent comment.
Of course the FDA is not, itself, a democratic instution. But then neither is your local police department or NASA. The reason those institutions are accepted despite the lack of direct democratic accountability is because they are still situated within the larger democratic institution (the US government) and subject to oversight by those elected representatives.
If you hate the FDA your best bet is to lobby against it yourself (or help others that do). Its to much of an in-the-weeds issue for it to be a high priority for most lawmakers (unless maybe you live in a district with a lot of businesses regulated by FDA)
As readers we are supposed to learn that we are being misled. One hopes GP commenter would learn they cannot always get away with this sort of deception.
What, if anything, are we supposed to get out of your comment, which seems to question the value of critical reading?
If you disagree, you can reply as to why you disagree, or you can silently disagree and move on. You've added no reasoning beyond the disagreement that slavboj brought up, only that you think it's not just wrong but... misleading? Of what? Why is it motte-and-bailey? Why would it be doublethink? What are you adding to the disagreement? rt4mn clearly states what they disagree about, namely their belief that a non-votable institution with democratic oversight is a democratic institution. All you're doing is sneering, you're not actually offering a reason for disagreement.
Sneering without reason brings the quality of discussion down on this site. Either substantively disagree or move on.
Perhaps they misspoke, or perhaps they misunderstood, or perhaps their usage of the term is different then yours or mine. I understood them to mean it in the sense that the FDA holds democratic legitimacy by nature of its assistance as an org within the US government, which is by any reasonable definition a democratic institution.
The point is that its not really relevant to the point they are making, which is that the FDA as an institution has some weird incentives.
Of course the FDA is not, itself, a democratic instution. But then neither is your local police department or NASA. The reason those institutions are accepted despite the lack of direct democratic accountability is because they are still situated within the larger democratic institution (the US government) and subject to oversight by those elected representatives.
If you hate the FDA your best bet is to lobby against it yourself (or help others that do). Its to much of an in-the-weeds issue for it to be a high priority for most lawmakers (unless maybe you live in a district with a lot of businesses regulated by FDA)