[mlocher]

i agree with you that we need to rid ourselves of the parasite.

you are confusing political (or governing) stucture with economic structure. we choose to govern ourselves as a democracy. once we had a free market economic structure. fdr and then lbj moved us strongly in the direction of socialism. so we went from a free democracy to a socialist democracy. to remain strong we must move back in the direction of where we once were economic-structurally.

the solution is to instill an economic bill of rights that limits (and significantly rolls back) government taxing and spending. this solution fits within the framework of what we have, and more importantly is proven to work.

i will not debate your points on some of the countries not being democracies as they went through the industrial revolution. we will not come to agreement because it is clear that we do not have the same definition of a democracy.

[Architect]

From the American Heritage Dictionary:

Main Entry: de·moc·ra·cy
Pronunciation: di-'mä-kr&-sE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -cies
Etymology: Middle French democratie, from Late Latin democratia, from Greek dEmokratia, from dEmos + -kratia -cracy
Date: 1576
1 a : government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections
2 : a political unit that has a democratic government
3 capitalized : the principles and policies of the Democratic party in the U.S.
4 : the common people especially when constituting the source of political authority
5 : the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions or privileges

[Architect]

From the American Heritage Dictionary:

Main Entry: de·moc·ra·cy
Pronunciation: di-'mä-kr&-sE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -cies
Etymology: Middle French democratie, from Late Latin democratia, from Greek dEmokratia, from dEmos + -kratia -cracy
Date: 1576
1 a : government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections
2 : a political unit that has a democratic government
3 capitalized : the principles and policies of the Democratic party in the U.S.
4 : the common people especially when constituting the source of political authority
5 : the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions or privileges