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by ragebol 43 days ago
In a functioning democracy, this should not be possible. There should be check and balances.

Reading a bit about Wilhelm II: so many parallels indeed. "Dreamt of a great colonial power", had to deal with some form of democracy, making incoherent replies, ... And more.
2 comments
halJordan 43 days ago
No it should definitely be possible in a functioning democracy (and is because it happened in one). It would not be possible with an educated electorate. But that's different from what you said
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GJim 43 days ago
> It would not be possible with an educated electorate.

A free and impartial press is vital for democracy to work (how else do you know who to vote for). However the current state of American news media leaves a lot to be desired..... Abandonment of the broadcast media 'fairness doctrine' for one thing.

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Yizahi 42 days ago
The problem with this situation in USA is not quite only because of media. Why did Congress instantly caved under the threat and even imposed a self censorship on itself to prevent any minority dissent (the case of "let's make whole year 2025 a single legal day, to prevent opposition vote" a year ago). It's because they are afraid to not be elected under threat of MAGA. And why is that? Because the election system is very not democratic in the USA. First past the post is already very bad system. No alternative parties, no open election lists, a huge legal lobbying/bribing allowed preventing electing independents. Etc. So the top commenter is right - democracy or even a semblance of one would have mitigated this disaster a lot, by protecting "checks and balanced" from being dismantled by a dictator.
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rising-sky 43 days ago
Doesn't it require some form of educated electorate to sustain a functioning democracy? Otherwise it is really "by the people" if they are merely avatars?
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embedding-shape 43 days ago
> In a functioning democracy, this should not be possible.

I think it's less about democracy vs not, and more about empires/hegemonies vs whatever the antonyms are. They seem to just fold over themselves at one point or another, like it's unavoidable.

At one point we (humanity) should figure out how the small and many can try to rein in the solo bullies in the world, but guess we're not quite there yet.

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