Thread: Are we a democracy?

Why is democracy such an appealing idea? Jefferson said it best when he said that democracy was 51% of the population ruling the other 49% by coercion!

If states were to adhere to constitutions which decreed that legislatures could only make laws which protect individual liberty, then there is no power to be fought over, and democracy, and fascism, both disappear instantly, to be replaced by freedom.

Try it. You might like it

This forum must go down in political history as being the first ever forum founded to discuss democracy whose members are wilfully allowing an Empire in peacetime to take over our nation without unitedly demanding a Referendum on its rule to be placed before its people. What a shameful fact.

I resign. Enough is enough.

Thanks for the time.

Who wants a ******* referendum? Seriously?

Why not just do away with the whole sorry fascist heap that is the EU?

If the UK electorate needs a referendum, it means that the anti-EU parties have not done enough to show how evil it is.

Do your bit! Vote UKIP or LPUK!

Originally Posted by Millennium3

On the basis that we are a democracy - even though a representative democracy, nevertheless this should mean that the actions of the government are in keeping with the will of the people.

Can anyone think of any current arrangements where this clearly is not the case.

I will start with:

It is not the will of the people that immigration, in this crowded country, is any more than is absolutely necessary.

It is not the will of the people that healthy minority groups are given any special advantages.

It is not the will of the people that the UK has either political or economic ties with the EU.

With Gordon Brown! A democracy. You can"t even smoke in the pub, without being arrested by his Stasi Police.

Hey there,

On your points

"It is not the will of the people that immigration, in this crowded country, is any more than is absolutely necessary.

It is not the will of the people that healthy minority groups are given any special advantages.

It is not the will of the people that the UK has either political or economic ties with the EU."

I suspect that it is the will of the people to be part of the EU. We can't be sure of course, but the only referenda on the subject supported our entry. I'm not sure what you mean by immigration as more than is 'absolutely necessary' but I think again there are really a lot of people who would support immigration.

It seems to me that we have a somewhat semantic problem really. I mean, you ask if Britain is a democracy. Firstly what you need to say is what a democracy is/should be.

If you think democracy is where everyone stands up and speaks, and participates actively in policy, then no we don’t have that. Nor does any reasonable size state, nor has any state throughout history. What would be the point of the term democracy if it described a situation that doesn’t and in fact cannot exist?

If you mean is Britain a simple majoritarian democracy, whereas a simple majority of the people make policy choices, then I suppose we don’t have that either. But then, it’s a fairly odious idea isn’t it? If 51% of the population think that we should butcher the children of Jews it seems to me that this is a pretty bad idea, and a good system should avoid it.

Perhaps you right, perhaps that would be democracy, and what we have is not that. What we have is a Liberal representative democracy. This rather accepts that democracy is one good thing, but not the only good thing. So, democracy offers popular participation in the running of the government,. It allows people to have their say top their local MP and elect a government to rule. If the government does a bad job, it allows them to kick them out. This is the democracy see?

The liberal element is the one that supports individual rights. Western democracies like the UK, and the USA tend to be liberal democracies. This is why 51% of people can’t vote to kill babies you see. It’s because we have a system designed to support individual rights, as well as groups. It’s a balance.

No one could claim that this is a perfect system, but the relatively free and fair elections certainly gives it a good clam to being a type of democracy.