Why is democracy so difficult and politics so volatile?

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fuzzybuddy said:
Democracy is meant to be messy, volatile, and somewhat disruptive. It's the law of the many, over the protests of the few. In government, there is little one can do that doesn't take something from one group and give it to another. You don't expect people to be quiet and complacent about the process.
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I would agree that politics can be messy and even disruptive, but I guess if one chooses to live in a Democracy, then they should accept the process as well. You get a vote, and however it turns out, then you make peace with the result until next time. Sometimes it's hard to live with, but life goes on. What can I say, I'm a dreamer.
 
HermitHogan said:
That's a thing of the past for a lot of people in the U.S.
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I was just expressing my opinion. I'd never claim everyone in Canada is decent, honest, and respectful of others. I believe that the majority of Canadians would affirm such virtues as ideals. But, needless to say, Canadians aren't perfect people.
 

VaughanJB said:
People are the problem with democracy.

It's become the cult of personality, where the personality is the least of things. Then there's the hate. It's not enough to simply disagree, now we're being told we must hate, mock, and demean our fellow citizens if they think differently.

Personal standards for political candidates are at an all time low. We expect nothing more than the constructed persona. From religious beliefs from people who clearly have none, to assumptions that if you've been in the military, you must be honest. We just expect too little.
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Part of that problem (bolded) is that parents and family, colleges and universities, and state and county agencies have been coddling young adults while, at the same time, convincing them they are victims of environmental pollution, racism, gender-based bigotry, inequality, and the evils of conservatism.

Grown people in their 20s and 30s have been given "safe spaces" and the ability to block anyone on their social media who disagrees with them, and told they can be anything they want, including panda bears and puppies. They've been living peacefully in their delusions while their similarly delusional peers and delulus cheer them on and support them; so overly protected from reality they don't even know what reality is. So, of course they don't know how to handle it, and live in it, be a part of it and contribute to it.

They are 100% emotional, fearful, delusional, and ignorant. They are toddler-level victims of everything, ill equipped to face the normal challenges of life. They think it's unfair to have to get up at 6am to be at work by 7am. They can't handle employment because they don't know how to act professionally, how to cooperate with co-workers, how to take orders from supervisors; they only know how to throw tantrums, and they'll do it in public...because they think it's normal. They think having a tantrum is normal behavior for an adult.

They are adult toddlers. Useless, ignorant 20-30-something year-old children who think they know everything when they don't know dookie. And the saddest thing about all that is, it isn't their fault. Society has allowed this to happen. By force, coercion, legislation, and plain stupidity and shortsightedness, our society has allowed it.

side note: Naturally, I'm not talking about all 20 and 30-somethings. They might not even be a majority, but there's a lot of them. There's about 400 million people in the US, so let's say (arbitrarily) there 7 million manufactured 20-30yr-old babies. Despite the huge population, even 2 million emotionally dysfunctional, underdeveloped adults is too many. But I'm confident the actual number is a lot larger than that.
 
JBR said:
I was just expressing my opinion. I'd never claim everyone in Canada is decent, honest, and respectful of others. I believe that the majority of Canadians would affirm such virtues as ideals. But, needless to say, Canadians aren't perfect people.
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AND our campaigns are much shorter than the ones in the US. You know pit our 6 weeks against their 4 years. We do have one person here in Canada who is already campaigning ..............and I am sure not going to vote for him!
 
I'm fairly certain that other countries play a considerable role in fueling divisive politics in this country if they happen to view us as a threat to their lifestyle and government. It's so easy to roll out the misinformation banquet on social media so those who look for reasons to dine on their brain fodder won't go hungry.

It may start out as "truthiness" (A Steven Colbert term), but subtly it transforms into cult tactics. They just keep throwing another log on the fire and stand back, while polishing their halo of innocence. It takes so much effort to trace the source of this poison that the social media police just give up trying to control it.

Perhaps my imagination is in warp drive, but I think some other countries use whatever tactics available to cause considerable chaos in our government and society. How to slay that beast, other than education of it's reality, is a challenge we are all facing now and going forward. How do you kill a ghost that can appear anywhere at will?
 
Sorry, your brain drove off the road again. The intent and meaning is in regard to the government of certain other countries. I have nothing at all against the general population who live there. Most are just trying to make a living and survive in whatever conditions they exist in. I have no prejudice against them at all.
 
bobcat said:
I'm fairly certain that other countries play a considerable role in fueling divisive politics in this country if they happen to view us as a threat to their lifestyle and government. It's so easy to roll out the misinformation banquet on social media so those who look for reasons to dine on their brain fodder won't go hungry.

It may start out as "truthiness" (A Steven Colbert term), but subtly it transforms into cult tactics. They just keep throwing another log on the fire and stand back, while polishing their halo of innocence. It takes so much effort to trace the source of this poison that the social media police just give up trying to control it.

Perhaps my imagination is in warp drive, but I think some other countries use whatever tactics available to cause considerable chaos in our government and society. How to slay that beast, other than education of it's reality, is a challenge we are all facing now and going forward. How do you kill a ghost that can appear anywhere at will?
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Yep, we have a 1st Amendment right to free speech here in the U.S. that allows people to lie with impunity unless it falls under specific categories such as libel and slander or causing a danger to the public in the case of shouting "fire" in a crowded movie theater. The remedy for defamation is lawsuits, but when an organization generates billions of dollars of revenue from lying and the damages are far less than that, they have little incentive to stop lying.
 
Alarmingly there are a considerable number who would be in favor of a national divorce where the US would become essentially two countries that are divided according to political affiliations. I don't think that could ever happen because states aren't granted the right to succeed based on what I've read.

Personally, I think it's a radical idea that would be fraught with problems. What do you do with the military as well as so many US government agencies and programs, and going to a different state could mean going to another country with it's own laws. It scares me to even think about that kind of extremism.

We just need to turn down the heat, learn to live with majority rule, and not see opposing views as toxic poison. The country isn't perfect, and you can't please everyone, so everything will likely never be exactly what each individual wants. I still embrace the "United we stand, divided we fall" way of thinking.
 
bobcat said:
We may choose sides in sports, music, and food, but there seems to be nothing that rises to the divisive level that politics does.
In general, we like the idea of democracy or a democratic republic, but if it doesn't play out in our favor, it can feel ruinous.

........It pits family members against each other, ignites fiery debate, name calling, and in some cases, all out hatred.

Just the mention of what party you align with can drive a wedge between people like nothing else.
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This might apply to US - but not to all countries.

Most people in Australia aren't pitted against family members or wedged from friends who vote differently.

Usually dont even know who others have voted for.
 
Politics and religion, religion and politics. Catholics and Protestants believe in God and Jesus, yet have fought wars throughout, and are not best buddies in this day and age. Most of the political parties believe in democracy, yet here we are.

Besides, we could all get along and obey our masters... or question our masters. Right now, we are questioning each other's masters. That might not be a bad thing, imo.
 
bobcat said:
We just need to turn down the heat, learn to live with majority rule, and not see opposing views as toxic poison. The country isn't perfect, and you can't please everyone, so everything will likely never be exactly what each individual wants. I still embrace the "United we stand, divided we fall" way of thinking.
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As long as we have the Electoral College, we often don't have 'majority rule'. We especially don't have majority rule in the Senate, since highly populated states have the same number of Senators as sparsely populated states, and through gerrymandering, minority rule also prevails in the House.

Plus, there are those who wish to undermine our democracy, and those who claim we don't even have a democracy.
 
bobcat said:
I'm fairly certain that other countries play a considerable role in fueling divisive politics in this country if they happen to view us as a threat to their lifestyle and government. It's so easy to roll out the misinformation banquet on social media so those who look for reasons to dine on their brain fodder won't go hungry.

It may start out as "truthiness" (A Steven Colbert term), but subtly it transforms into cult tactics. They just keep throwing another log on the fire and stand back, while polishing their halo of innocence. It takes so much effort to trace the source of this poison that the social media police just give up trying to control it.

Perhaps my imagination is in warp drive, but I think some other countries use whatever tactics available to cause considerable chaos in our government and society. How to slay that beast, other than education of it's reality, is a challenge we are all facing now and going forward. How do you kill a ghost that can appear anywhere at will?
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This looks to be true throughout most Western countries not just the US. I don't think it's country against country, rather a hegemony of powerful people behind the scenes who control both legacy and much of social media and are stirring the pot to polarize the masses.
 
Democrocracy is not difficult. We have the constitution. We have rights under it. They are enforced and hold their value in a court of law. Thank God!
Politics is a differnt matter. Bottom line is everything is about power and money. Think about it. Power and money.....period!
Forget about the surveys.
If you don't like the survey results, change the questions.
The american people at the voting booth, according to our rights under the constitution, determine the results.
I don't care for either canidate but I will vote.
There is no one qualified running that is worthy of to occupy Lincolns chair but we must choose.
The polls and professional survey guru's can do the shuck and dive after the fact and then they will adjust their numbers and point to anomalies or what ever, all in an attempt to save face.
We determine who will be the next president.
DON'T FORGET THAT!
 
dilettante said:
"Woodstock" is tightly wrapped in false mythology.

Village Idiot: Woodstock: Peace, love and rich college kids

I was amazed at how many kids could afford to pay for the tickets and then to find out they had cars, too! Why is everyone calling them hippies? They must be the richest hippies I ever heard of. While they were driving to rock festivals, I was taking the bus to work, a nice 45 minutes tacked onto the beginning and end of each day. And they had dope, lots of it. An ounce of marijuana cost $20 then — 20 bills I didn't have. Of course, I can't afford it now, either, at $500 an ounce.​
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So these kids had ticket money, car money, gas money, dope money and the first day of Woodstock was a Friday, which they were taking off. Somehow, that doesn't sound like a bunch of jobless, commune-living, unwashed, incense-burning hippies. It sounds like a bunch of college kids who have to go back to class in a few weeks looking for a party. And yes, it proved that there were more longhaired, bell-bottomed kids than any one realized, but even they didn't realize that until they all showed up.​
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Woodstock was free.
 
HermitHogan said:
As long as we have the Electoral College, we often don't have 'majority rule'. We especially don't have majority rule in the Senate, since highly populated states have the same number of Senators as sparsely populated states, and through gerrymandering, minority rule also prevails in the House.

Plus, there are those who wish to undermine our democracy, and those who claim we don't even have a democracy.
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Well, it's only happened 4 times in our history that the winner of the popular vote didn't win the presidency, so it is rare, but it does happen. Don't get me wrong, I do not like the electoral college, and never have. I think the idea was lame, but it was a compromise reached in the youth of our government between those who wanted majority rule, and those who feared the more populated states would end up dominating.

It would be almost impossible to change it, so lets hope it won't be an issue that often. I realize that no system is perfect, but it's better than most, IMO.
 
chic said:
Woodstock was free.
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Woodstock - Wikipedia
Woodstock was conceived as a profit-making venture. It became a "free concert" when circumstances prevented the organizers from installing fences and ticket booths before opening day. Tickets for the three-day event cost US$18 in advance and $24 at the gate (equivalent to about $150 and $200 today).
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So when the event was promoted people expected to pay a fee. They had no reason to believe that gate crashing would end up being so easy.
 
bobcat said:
Well, it's only happened 4 times in our history that the winner of the popular vote didn't win the presidency, so it is rare, but it does happen. Don't get me wrong, I do not like the electoral college, and never have. I think the idea was lame, but it was a compromise reached in the youth of our government between those who wanted majority rule, and those who feared the more populated states would end up dominating.

It would be almost impossible to change it, so lets hope it won't be an issue that often. I realize that no system is perfect, but it's better than most, IMO.
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It is better than anything else on this planet. The other side is that God has blessed us, regardless of our sins. America is a great country now! we don't need to make it great again.
 

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