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Walter Williams: America Isn't a Democracy. In Fact, the Founders Feared Democracy
CNS News ^ | January 28, 2020 | Walter E. Williams

Posted on 02/09/2020 4:37:36 PM PST by BulletBobCo

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To: Lurkinanloomin

Failures to communicate like this are the reason so many millenials think only socialismm is democracy.

Democracy in America by Alexis de Touqueville clarified the difference between Democracry in a government, which Walter Williams discusses and Democracy in Society which Walter Williams unfortunately does not give sufficient attention in this article.

Without that balance, communication fails.

The US has a near direct democracy in society. We vote where to live, where to work, where to worship, where to play, where to buy, big box, ma-n-pa or designer boutique. With direct democracy we vote what to buy, foreign or domestic, or to save and not buy.

In direct democracy everyone has vote, children, non-citizens, illegals, unregistered, almost everyone except those doing time in prison.

Half of America does not vote for politicians in the government. Half of us who do vote see America as the society, not the government. The government is just a small pimple on the American body.


21 posted on 02/09/2020 6:23:55 PM PST by spintreebob
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To: BulletBobCo

Everything is spot on. I would add also that political parties are also an institution that kills this country.


22 posted on 02/09/2020 6:33:31 PM PST by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.-S.Adams)
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To: BulletBobCo
And in addition to hearing repeatedly during President Trump's impeachment that our nation is a democracy, we saw firsthand in the House rules why the Framers rightly had contempt for a democracy when the House majority voted away the rights of the minority and the accused with no recourse for either.

"Oh sure, you can have witnesses," said the Democrats to the Republicans and the President, "but only by our approval." "And it's not true that the President's counsel isn't allowed to question witnesses," said the Democrats to the Republicans and the President, "except in the hearings conducted by the Intelligence Committee where we're developing the basis for impeachment in secret testimony we control and selectively leak."

23 posted on 02/09/2020 6:56:04 PM PST by Dahoser (Not separation of church and state, but separation of media and state.)
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To: BulletBobCo

Bkmark


24 posted on 02/09/2020 7:21:49 PM PST by Mase (Save me from the people who would save me from myself!)
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To: BulletBobCo

Very good article.


25 posted on 02/09/2020 7:27:26 PM PST by Inyo-Mono
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To: BulletBobCo

Proof positive that direct democracy doesn’t work...

Americans forced to endure the pains of Obamacare, where the majority democrats voted for the bill, while ALL REPUBLICANS voted against it.

Another example: Majority democrats voted to impeach president Trump, while ALL REPUBLICANS voted against impeachment.


26 posted on 02/09/2020 7:56:24 PM PST by adorno
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To: DoughtyOne

Every Republican that refers to us as a democracy is a RINO.

Every morning in elementary school, first thing, we recited the Pledge of Allegiance — “...and to the republic for which it stands...”

Our pubic schools eliminated the practice, for a reason...


27 posted on 02/09/2020 8:36:54 PM PST by polymuser (It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and so few by deceit. Noel Coward)
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To: BulletBobCo

Walter Williams is great. Just great.


28 posted on 02/09/2020 9:10:49 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not Averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: BulletBobCo; All

It’s interesting that all the politicians who swore and oath to the Constitution never read it. Furthermore, very few ever paid any attention to the words in the Pledge of Allegiance to our Flag.


29 posted on 02/09/2020 10:24:53 PM PST by Cobra64 (Common sense isnÂ’t common anymore.)
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To: traderrob6

Nope! Not entirely.

In many things, but you forgot the electoral college.

When it comes to the highest most important office in the land, a vote under a Democracy would only count the popular vote and be done with it.


30 posted on 02/09/2020 10:35:17 PM PST by DoughtyOne (Time to up our FR Monthlies by 5-10%. You'll < hardly miss it and it will help.)
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To: BulletBobCo
Ten things you can repeat until you're blue in the face and will still only be singing to the choir:

1. The US is a republic and not a democracy
2. The democrats are the real racists
3. Social Security is an unconstitutional federal power grab
4. Medicare is an unconstitutional federal power grab
5. The word "welfare" in the constitution doesn't justify federal welfare programs
6. The word "militia" in the second amendment has nothing to do with the National Guard
7. Social Security, as it is currently run, is a Ponzi Scheme
8. Whatever right to privacy exists in the constitution does not extend to allowing women to privately contract assassins to kill their unborn
9. There will never be a sufficient number of people willing to vote for a truly libertarian society. Opening the border will only make it less likely.
10. There are only two sexes. The vast majority of people have genders and sexual orientations that match their sex. Organizing society around the rare exceptions is a recipe for disaster.

31 posted on 02/09/2020 11:41:38 PM PST by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: richardtavor
We are a Representative Republic.

We are a Constitutional Republic.

Where is our representation laid out?
Is it in the Constitution?
One comes before the other.

32 posted on 02/10/2020 2:02:39 AM PST by philman_36 (Pride breakfasted with plenty, dined with poverty and supped with infamy. Benjamin Franklin)
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To: palmer
Yes we were.
No, we never were.

See reply 32.

33 posted on 02/10/2020 2:04:41 AM PST by philman_36 (Pride breakfasted with plenty, dined with poverty and supped with infamy. Benjamin Franklin)
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To: Empire_of_Liberty

The Founders only allowed taxpayers to vote; back in the day that was property owners. Here in NJ, women and blacks could vote from the start, providing they met the requirements; in 1807, it was rolled back to include only white men who paid taxes.


34 posted on 02/10/2020 3:00:45 AM PST by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: DoughtyOne

Hence the “Constitutionally mandated”.

It’s a “democratically elected representative republic” of which is directed constitutionally to follow certain “mandates” one of which is the “electoral college”.


35 posted on 02/10/2020 4:33:33 AM PST by traderrob6
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To: BulletBobCo

Yep - like I read on FR many many moons ago, “A Democracy is 2 foxes and a chicken voting on what to have for dinner.”.


36 posted on 02/10/2020 4:49:55 AM PST by trebb (Don't howl about illegal leeches, or Trump in general, while not donating to FR - it's hypocritical.)
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To: BulletBobCo

In a Democracy, 50.1% can vote to enslave or kill the other 49.9%. That’s why rule of law is so important.


37 posted on 02/10/2020 7:38:38 AM PST by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: BulletBobCo

We don’t teach this in public schools.


38 posted on 02/10/2020 7:39:47 AM PST by 1Old Pro
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To: traderrob6; philman_36; who_would_fardels_bear; Cobra64; spintreebob; palmer; PeterPrinciple

By whatever name, of which I prefer “democratic republic,” and Mark Levin uses “post-constitutional republic,” the 17th Amendment fundamentally changed the federal/state relationship, for practical purposes repealed the 10th Amendment, and set the stage for a hundred years of increasingly “progressive” congressional laws and judicial decisions from a Scotus that recognizes no limits.

Whatever we have, it’s a long way from what the Framers bequeathed.

To even possibly return to Constitutional order, the 17th must go.


39 posted on 02/10/2020 7:56:03 AM PST by Jacquerie (ArticleVBlog.com)
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To: 1Old Pro

“We don’t teach this in public schools.”

Public (government) schools went leftist/progressive many decades ago. Began with John Dewey in the 1910’s.

Then, The Frankfurt School (of cultural Marxism) adherents infested education in the 1950’s (Columbia U became their US HQ), while CPUSA infested our colleges. They brought us Sensitivity Training and Consensus-Building.

Frankfurt School minions also infested unions, Hollywood, the D’rat Party and our MSM.

The NEA went hard left in the 1960’s, discontinuing their publishing and distribution of The American Citizens Handbook in the late 1960’s and burying the remaining 10,000 copies in a NY landfill.

http://www.shipofstate.com/books/AmericanCitizensHandbook/AmericanCitizensHandbook.htm


40 posted on 02/10/2020 7:57:06 AM PST by polymuser (It's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and so few by deceit. Noel Coward)
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