Halcyon Dayz, FCD wrote:Having very little ethics is actually a boon in business.
Halcyon Dayz, FCD wrote:And he had quite the head-start.
Мастер wrote:I'm going to take a somewhat different spin on the discussion on democracy.
The founders of the US were deeply distrustful of democracy, and went to considerable lengths to protect the future Americans from democracy. These protections have been weakened somewhat over time, as the US government has become more democratic - e.g., direct election of senators, which was not how it worked originally. The choice of the president is also something approximating a democratic choice (yes, there have been a few cases where the popular vote winner did not take office, but you do need a lot of votes if you want in) - not what the founders originally envisioned.
The 1787 constitution put considerable limits on what the partially democratically elected government could do - for example, freedom of speech is not supposed to be abridged, whether or not 51% of the people want it that way (or 60%, or 80%) - it takes quite a high hurdle, modification of the constitution, 2/3 vote in two legislative bodies, and ratification of 3/4 of the states. Many of what we often call the "western democracies" don't have such a system, and the government can outlaw, with a majority vote, behaviour that is constitutionally protected in the US, and can only be outlawed by changing the constitution.
Personally, I think some of the problematic things we are seeing today are actually the result of creeping democratisation, and the founders would have felt somewhat vindicated that they had tried to prevent it. Of course there is no way to test that hypothesis for sure.
Arneb wrote:It's an interesting take, but I think the founders would disagree.
"Hence it is that democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general have been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths … A republic, by which I mean a government in which a scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking."
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