baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
Re Portillo, democracy is a very nebulous term, usually defined at any given time by the most powerful (ie America).
What now seems to pass for democracy is: representative democracy with a very constricted set of parties, all in thrall to big business to some extent and oppressive according to its dictates. Not very linked to freedom in any meaningful sense, other than freedom to consume/be part of a workforce. In the UK, most people's votes are utterly meaningless cos of the way things are worked - same in the States I guess, if you don't live in a swing state (for the UK, a swing constituency). At least the London Mayoral election is better....
Societies allow freedoms when they can afford to - as soon as the upper echelons are threatened, doesn't matter whether you live in America or North Korea, end result will be similar. Now conditions in Europe and North America are getting worse, they will feel more oppressive for more people. It shouldn't be surprising that the police are using pepper spray or whatever on protestors, but most Westerners have been told so often and from such a young age that we live in 'free' countries, that it is a bit of a shock. That was never true though - protest has always been viciously smashed in Europe/NA.
Re Democracy Index: "The Economist Intelligence Unit helps business leaders prepare for opportunity, empowering them to act with confidence when making strategic decisions." - can't really take these people seriously as evaluators of real freedoms - again, just corporate-led.
That Canadian annulling of gay marriages made me do a double take though. I didn't think that was even a possibility....
What now seems to pass for democracy is: representative democracy with a very constricted set of parties, all in thrall to big business to some extent and oppressive according to its dictates. Not very linked to freedom in any meaningful sense, other than freedom to consume/be part of a workforce. In the UK, most people's votes are utterly meaningless cos of the way things are worked - same in the States I guess, if you don't live in a swing state (for the UK, a swing constituency). At least the London Mayoral election is better....
Societies allow freedoms when they can afford to - as soon as the upper echelons are threatened, doesn't matter whether you live in America or North Korea, end result will be similar. Now conditions in Europe and North America are getting worse, they will feel more oppressive for more people. It shouldn't be surprising that the police are using pepper spray or whatever on protestors, but most Westerners have been told so often and from such a young age that we live in 'free' countries, that it is a bit of a shock. That was never true though - protest has always been viciously smashed in Europe/NA.
Re Democracy Index: "The Economist Intelligence Unit helps business leaders prepare for opportunity, empowering them to act with confidence when making strategic decisions." - can't really take these people seriously as evaluators of real freedoms - again, just corporate-led.
That Canadian annulling of gay marriages made me do a double take though. I didn't think that was even a possibility....
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