Posted on 01/11/2019 5:01:08 PM PST by ColdOne
Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) falsely stated on Wednesday night that India is the "oldest democracy in the world," a title that actually belongs to the United States.
Harris, whose mother Shyamala Harris is from India, made the remark after she was asked by the Washington Post‘s Jonathan Capehart how "being half Indian-American" shaped her "identity and political views."
"You know, India is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, democracy in the world," Harris said.
The statement has no basis in fact. The Republic of India wasn't established as a democracy until 1950 after it won independence from Great Britain. Its first democratic election, which took several months to conduct, was not completed until February 1952, just under 67 years ago.
The world's longest surviving democracy is actually the United States, which ratified its
(Excerpt) Read more at freebeacon.com ...
not really, Canada is bigger than India....
Has Greece been erased from history?
India adopted the British Parliamentary system in 1950 because that form of government had been implemented previously under British rule. She is also a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations, however she has no allegiance to the British Monarch, as, for example Australia, New Zealand and Canada do.
I’m talking population, not geography.
Indeed. Good distinction between the “Head of State” and the “Head of the Commonwealth”.
"It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this.
The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure deformity."Alexander Hamilton
Speech in New York, urging ratification of the U.S. Constitution (1788-06-21)
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Since the term being debated is ‘Democracy’...wouldn’t one have to refer to the ancient Greeks to get to the oldest?
"India" i.e. the continent of India HAD some of the oldest democracies in the world - in Harappa and later. However the two things can't be compared
However it didn't have these from the period 300 AD to 1950, so Harris statement is wrong - as is yours
Hmmm....I did not know this.I always thought that it was Guam, at least until it capsized and sank.
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Yeah. I miss Guam. That was a real tragedy. Thank goodness for the Hank Johnson law that has all island populations moved to the center of the land mass and kept in balance now.
SOME slash. Come on, it’s a continent with 30+ different nations in it and wide varieties of religions, cultures, languages. There is no one defining statement for “India”
Good point! Both are democracies and the USA is the older republic. She could argue that there were ancient democracies in the continent of India, but “India” as a unified political entity didn’t exist until the 20th century
I presume you don’t read the news and I’ve never visited India to make such a comment.
That you have not visited India. I have. It has to be one of the filthiest those backward countries in the world.
I read the news and have visited many parts of India. So why do you think about that diverse country the way you do, if I may ask?
There should be an Index somewhere that can rank countries based on how anxious their citizens are to come to America. The worse the country, the more they want to escape to America. Think about it, something like half or more, more likely about three-quarters of the world's population should move to America if allowed. They are from cesspool places like India, China, Mexico, etc., and not Canada.
The big cities are filthy yes, but not Darjeeling or Gangtok or Ooty or Mahe
i've stayed in both tourists and non-touristy places - whether the megapoli of Bombay, Madras, Bangalore and Hyderabad or the ancient cities of Hampi, Thiruvananthapuram or Codungallur
As you haven't been to india I would say that explains your view.
In terms of Gang-rapes -- you do realize that the number of rapes is about the same as the US or lower. And, while it isn't the safest place for women, it's not the most dangerous and some parts as as safe as downtown Boston, while others are as safe as Detroit. This statement of yours tells me that you've watched too much of the news. The news exaggerates
However, it is not a tribal cesspit as you say -- there are levels between tribal cesspit and heaven on earth and india as a whole lies closer to the US than the former.
Actually in terms of India, the numbers were about 10% of the population would like to move to America - the country has a lot of bright spots
You say "people want to escape to America" is, sorry, a myopic view of someone who hasn't travelled - people want to move to America not just to "escape" but because America is great, and I'm not exaggerating - it has opportunity, freedom to fail and no traditional hangups, THAT is why people want to move there -- opportunities and openness.
This is not about escaping dire lives, but about grabbing opportunities. This is not the 80s
And no, not three quarters of the world's population would want to move to the USA -- travel more. In all my travels I can tell you the average works out to 10% or so who would like to move to America. the vast majority - over three-quarter do NOT want to move to America any more. This was different in the 30s - 80s when the USA was the sole free nation. But others have caught up in openness and opportunities.
160 million of the world would move to the USA -- that's about 3% -- while I met about 10% or less, so I'd say the number sounds right.
And for the people coming to the USA -- the numbers coming from Mexico have dropped and most who came were the unskilled folks. From China increasingly IT and AI professionals prefer staying in China as it doesn't have so many rules.
indians are moving to the US but the brain drain is slowing
if the USA turns more socialist expect the drain to reverse
India has horrible places -- Bombay's slums for one, but it also has sublime beauties to visit such as the 2300 year old Ajanta and Ellora temples
Or the sublime Ranthambore forest or Gangtok
And yet you pick on one aspect of it - it's more complex than that -- just saying "it is a cesspit" is liberal one-dimension speak. We're better than that.
it's not better than the USA to live in, but it's not a "tribal cesspit"
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