Democracy Index by country (2017)

[snakedafunky]

So the Fatherland is once again the best out of all the large economies and world players.
You guys must be feeling very stupid forcing WW1 on to Germany by now.
You could live in the same superior and excellent systems but you preferred to step the Reich in the back twice.

SAD.

 

[The ScorpioN]

How can we help make the USA more democratic ? .

Vote for the candidate the establishment tells you to vote for.

If you vote for someone different, your democracy becomes undemocratic.

Very counter-intuitive.

 

[Rod1]

Vote for the candidate the establishment tells you to vote for.

If you vote for someone different, your democracy becomes undemocratic.

Very counter-intuitive.

Nah, vote for the guy that says he is anti-establishment, but is backed by the most corrupt establishment guys out there.

 

[Fawlty]

I'd swap the US and South Korea

 

[The Merchant]

I wonder how long the "land of the free" can keep up the fairytale. I used to get all the Britannia Rules the Waves pish decades ago when i was a wee boy as well.

It's the education system not their democracy that's down the shitter real bad.

Americans are spectacularly bad at answering even the most basic math questions

When the OECD tested half-a-million 15-year-old students around the world in a test known as PISA in 2012, US teens came in 27th place in math, below their counterparts in Estonia, Latvia, Vietnam, and Spain.

American adults, it turns out, are no more capable. And when it comes to digital problem-solving, they are literally the worst in the developed world.

In math, Americans with a high school diploma performed about the same as high school dropouts in other countries.


https://qz.com/638845/americans-are...answering-even-the-most-basic-math-questions/

 

[Anung Un Rama]

How can we help make the USA more democratic ? .

- get money out of politics
- hold political parties accountable - criminally - for purging voter rolls and rigging elections
- make things like disassociating form conflicts of interest and tax-returns a prerequisite for filing candidacy.
- no super delegates
- revamp (or dismantle) the electoral college to prevent candidates with the majority of votes from losing (Gore, Clinton)

 

[sweede]

- get money out of politics
- hold political parties accountable - criminally - for purging voter rolls and rigging elections
- make things like disassociating form conflicts of interest and tax-returns a prerequisite for filing candidacy.
- no super delegates
- revamp (or dismantle) the electoral college to prevent candidates with the majority of votes from losing (Gore, Clinton)

I´m curious about this one. Does the citizens of USA feel this as an insult for their better knowing? Why do you accept that a small group having the last word?

 

[Billy no mates]

- get money out of politics
- hold political parties accountable - criminally - for purging voter rolls and rigging elections
- make things like disassociating form conflicts of interest and tax-returns a prerequisite for filing candidacy.
- no super delegates
- revamp (or dismantle) the electoral college to prevent candidates with the majority of votes from losing (Gore, Clinton)

All very good ideas of course but I was thinking more along the lines of lobbing some random missiles at you lot, it's what we normally do when we need to democratise Johnny Foreigner .

 

[sweede]

I think that rank is somewhat meaningless if you compare countries that are close together. I don't see how Spain is somewhat more democratic than Portugal, it's basically the same.
Of course, there is a big difference between one that is listed as a democracy and an authoritarian regime.
About Uruguay, I'm not sure why you're shocked. Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and southern Brazil are basically a poor outpost of Europe. It has nothing to do with the typical latin american country. Although Argentina has been on the decline, it was once one of the richest countries in the world, while Uruguay especially has been advancing.

Out of the top of my head I've been to Russia and China. Russia feels like any other eastern european country, the authoritarianism is more on the top against political figures, China feels more like a typical dictatorship, the most noticeable thing is that many websites and apps are blocked without a VPN.
I almost went to Venezuela to work in a gold refining project but the army took over the mine and that was it. Shithole, LOL.

Well the difference in the score is marginal and the index number has to distinguish somewhere. And I feel Portugal has always been the catching up country of Europe. It was not that long ago since they were a dictatorship.

 

[sweede]

Unless your country has a protected and enshrined right to freedom of speech and an enshrined legal right to bear arms, America still wins in the "freedom meter".

The study was contrasting and comparing the Democratic processes of different countries. Access to democracy doesn't necessarily mean freedom. In many cases, democracy can end up becoming a tyranny of the majority.

Cough, cough.. Russia, Turkey.....

 

[Anung Un Rama]

All very good ideas of course but I was thinking more along the lines of lobbing some random missiles at you lot, it's what we normally do when we need to democratise Johnny Foreigner .

Anything like that would only push us further toward fascism.

 

[Anung Un Rama]

I´m curious about this one. Does the citizens of USA feel this is an insult for their better knowing? Why do you accept that a small group having the last word?

The common man may feel its insulting, but its built into the Constitution.
The problem is that populations are concentrated and it gives some states disproportional power.

 

[Rod1]

- revamp (or dismantle) the electoral college to prevent candidates with the majority of votes from losing (Gore, Clinton)

I think that wouldnt help since the US is a republic.

A better option would be "distribute electoral college votes based on the % of votes obtained by the party".

 

[Farmer Br0wn]

According to this we are tied 6th while you are now 23rd. It could be because people measure their personal freedoms different to you (frankly, I'm glad we don't have the so-called freedom to bear arms).

I will agree with you that freedom of speech should be enshrined in law.

Any Nation without the freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, or freedom of association, immediately goes behind the line of the United States in regards to how much freedom their citizens have.

In regards to the right to bear arms, I've said this and other threads, but I will also say it and reply to you:

Rights are the necessary conditions of ones proper existence. It's a necessary condition of your proper existence to be able to repel threats to yourself and your family.

Any government that would deny you that, has denied you the most basic of human rights. Citizens of a disarmed nation proclaiming how happy they are for their chains, doesn't make this violation of basic human rights disappear.

 

[Anung Un Rama]

I think that wouldnt help since the US is a republic.

A better option would be "distribute electoral college votes based on the % of votes obtained by the party".

That or make electoral votes a floating number.
For instance, CA has 11x the electoral votes that NM has, but it has 20x the population.


I actually like your number better because it would also reward turnout.

 

[Greoric]

According to this we are tied 6th while you are now 23rd. It could be because people measure their personal freedoms different to you (frankly, I'm glad we don't have the so-called freedom to bear arms).

I will agree with you that freedom of speech should be enshrined in law.

Pssst. Democracies fucking suck at securing freedoms.

 

[D3thr0n3d K1ng]

Pssst. Democracies fucking suck at securing freedoms.

Tell us about the virtues and benefits of medieval monarchies.

 

[Grenz]

Canada is 6, even though our majority fedral government was elected with less thatn 40% of the vote .... similar in many provinces. Study's methods seem off.

How is that weird, considering we have 3 major parties, with the Greens stealing votes in BC? With three viable national options, it's obviously highly unlikely that one will get 50% of all total votes. That would be the equivalent of a total landslide in the US.

 

[Greoric]

Tell us about the virtues and benefits of medieval monarchies.

As if those are the only options. Tell us more about your anencephaly.

 

[sweede]

How is that weird, considering we have 3 major parties, with the Greens stealing votes in BC? With three viable national options, it's obviously highly unlikely that one will get 50% of all total votes. That would be the equivalent of a total landslide in the US.

Very true. A healthy democracy needs a strong opposition.