Posted on 05/04/2025 9:33:11 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Excluding candidates from standing in elections may be a legally sound option to protect democracy from anti-democratic forces. But it is an insufficient solution on its own.
Romania and France have recently banned candidates from running in forthcoming elections, causing uproar domestically and internationally. While the circumstances and the reasons behind the bans are very different, the barring of candidates raises similar questions in both countries: are bans justified and, even if they are, do they harm democracy?
When are election bans justified?
Banning political parties or politicians on the basis of their politics is seen as a measure of last resort in democracies. Exclusions are a response to what is called the ‘paradox of democracy’ – the risk that anti-democratic actors may use democratic institutions and rights, including freedom of speech and assembly, to abolish democracy. As a response, many countries have enshrined in their legal systems the idea of a ‘militant democracy’, which defends itself against political actors undermining its foundations. Germany, for example, defines its political system as a militant democracy, allowing the courts to ban political parties.
(Excerpt) Read more at cer.eu ...
What a democratic idea.
Nothing says democracy like banning political opponents from running for office because you’re afraid they’ll beat you. How reminiscent of the democrat primaries they had for the presidential election.
/roll eyes
The idiot doesn’t acknowledge that *populism* IS democracy.
Populism is one of those terms that’s thrown around like “Fascist”. Nobody who uses it actually has a clue as to what it really is.
You turn the opposition into “Nazis” so you can “punch a Nazi”. It’s what the Nazis did with “Bolshevik”. The opposition were deemed Communists so they could attack them. The Nazis invented the narrative with the Jews. The “Jewish bankers” created the misery so it’s OK to smash the cobbler’s windows.
It’s all about normalizing violence
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea bans everybody other than Kim from running and he’s elected with 100% of the vote. Obviously it works great there and they’re still democratic, it say so in the name after all.
Why don’t they just cut to the chase and dispense with elections altogether?
That is what this is.
I remember when we used to say that in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, you could vote for Saddam or you can vote for Saddam.
👍💯%
If these parties have solid popular support among the voters, by what legal basis can they be banned?
I'll boycott the elections if I'm in France. So the ruling party will get 100%. Which will deny them "political legitimacy ".
Whenever the phrase "our democracy" appears, it is not inclusive of all the voters. The most common usage seems to translate as "our grip on the levers of political power".
If these "far right" candidates were calling for pogroms or otherwise expressed actual extreme views there might be some justification. But you can call for the genocide of the Jews and be a member in good standing of the leftist parties propped up by the media. You can be a tacit and complicit supporter of mass-murdering jihadists as they plow through crowds with their vehicles and rape gangs, and be considered a moderate. These media extremists beclown themselves as they accuse others of being "far" anything.
Thier is NO Right Wing Paryy in Europe. Thier os globalist statist vs anti- Globalist staist.
Obama, during the time he was the POTUS, he would have been too "conservative" to be a leader of an EU country.
If the people are denied choices, that is not democracy.
These people are not Nazis nor are they “far right”.
Don’t for one minute doubt that this has been frequently discussed at Democrat Party Central Committee meetings across the U.S.
Don’t for one minute doubt that this has been frequently discussed at Democrat Party Central Committee meetings across the U.S.
If Harris had won, they'll ban MAGA candidates.
RINOs will be permitted to run instead. We won't vote for them. Our turnout will be depressed.
“are bans justified and, even if they are, do they harm democracy?”
what? are they kidding? there’s no way that the government banning their political opponents is anti-democratic ... a government in a REAL democracy disallows everyone they don’t like ... everybody knows that ... just ask joe biden ...
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