Re: Democracy in America…
Reply #62 –
RJH-- real democracy can't exist for long. It can't exist for the very simple reason that unfettered mob rule would quickly bankrupt the system as people voted themselves largess after largess.
It can't exist for much the same reason an anarchic system-- if such a thing could exist outside of Somalia-- could long exist. Anarchy quickly breaks down into rule by warlords, with each tribe trying to kill off the others until one rises supreme and has power to enforce its dictates on everybody else.
What's left then, is some form of monarchy, or some form of dictatorship, or some form of democratically elected republic. Not much else has stood long.
In truth, the constitutional republic the United States is supposed to have was a chancy thing, only a couple of other peoples have had anything like it before-- the Greeks and the Romans-- and the Roman experiment showed the tendency for this to break down into dictatorship. We've been dangerously close to that a few times, and I have to say I'm not terribly comfortable with the way things are shaping up now. Those $% executive orders that Obama has been using to side-step Congress can all too easily lead to one man running the show unless the president can be checked by the courts. Executive orders have their place, but using them to make end-runs around the Congress-- just ain't right.