Posted on 05/16/2008 12:40:40 PM PDT by bs9021
Another 50-50 Myth Debunked
by: Bethany Stotts, May 16, 2008
Do Americans live in a democracy or in a scum-ridden, corrupt regime run by elite interests? Skeptics tend to believe the latter. “Start with this reality: the Powers That Be don’t want genuine democracy...They intend for politics to be a spectator event for us, scripted by the one-tenth of 1 percent of elites who put up the controlling money,” write Jim Hightower and Susan DeMarco in their book, Swim Against the Current.
While hyperbolic (as is much of Hightower’s writing), their argument exemplifies how research placing American voter turnout at 55% has been used to disparage American society as inherently undemocratic. After all, if 1.) elite interests control the candidate choice, and 2.) no-one cares about voting any more, then America is inherently undemocratic, right?
Wrong. Actually, the proportion of registered voters who actually vote is more than two-thirds, not the slightly-over-half that we endlessly hear.
As in many cases, the truth about American politics lies in the way voting is measured. If voter turnout is calculated using the voting-age population, American participation seems quite small. However, such numbers would include convicted criminals, the insane, and, perhaps, even illegal immigrants.
It would also include those who have chosen not to register to vote even though they remain free to do so at any time.
“The main reasons for this large difference between electoral participation between the United States and other democracies are institutional, not cultural,” writes UC Berkeley Professor Jack Citrin in Understanding America. These “technical differences” serve to “lower American turnout relative to those in other countries” making America appear to be a democracy with very rampant political apathy.
When only registered voters are included in the sample, a surprising statistic emerges....
(Excerpt) Read more at campusreportonline.net ...
““Start with this reality: the Powers That Be don’t want genuine democracy...They intend for politics to be a spectator event for us, scripted by the one-tenth of 1 percent of elites who put up the controlling money,” write Jim Hightower and Susan DeMarco in their book, Swim Against the Current.”
omigod why do I hear another “get rid of the electoral college” rant coming.... lol
Gawd. It is a Constitutionally restrained Republic.
What a pinhead.
He lost me at Democracy since, by inferring that we live in one, he shows right away that he is a dunce not worth bothering with.
Voter turn-out in the recent Town Council elections in Culpeper, Virginia was right around 17% of REGISTRED voters.
This at a time when there are several contentious issues at play: dealing with illegal immigration, consolidation efforts w/the county, budget shortfalls (leading to possible tax increases), water and sewer shortages.
I’m sorry, but it appears the American public has abrogated its responsiblities and taht we are headed for a non-democratic society (non-constitutional republic as well).
WE'RE NOT A DEMOCRACY. WE'RE A REPUBLIC
When the reporters/pollsters/pandering politicians are able to get that little fact straight, then we may have something to talk about.
bunch of idiots....
Only a FOOL wants “genuine” democracy.. our founders knew damned well what that “true democracy” was nothing but mob rule and knew that it destroyed Greece.
They gave us and intended us to have a republic, democratically elected leaders yes, but a Republic, not a democracy.
Hightower, DeMarco and Berkley - fellow travelers..
The enemies within...
This article sounds like crap to me. And 67% is a whole lot closer to 50% than 100%. So, assuming that a) the reporter got it right and b) the numbers were right to begin with....then the article is just splitting hairs.
I read a fascinating little nugget on FR the other day. Poster commented that "Americans laughed when Saddam Hussein garnered 95% of the vote in Iraq. But, everyone was strangely quiet when Obama garnered 92% of the black vote in America."
Interesting dichotomy, or at least I thought so.
Yep. Expect this to become a drumbeat if Obama loses. Will make 2000 look like a walk in the park.
I get so tired of you guys screaming that we’re not in a democracy. The United States is a constitutional republic. That means that we don’t have a king or caliph emperor ruling the country, and that the rules of government are encoded in a constitution. Our present form of government is a representational DEMOCRACY, in which the people choose others to vote for us in the government. There are different forms of democracy, usually resulting from the restrictions placed on who can vote, and how close the voter is to the people making the laws. In ours, for example, you are supposed to be a citizen over 18. The fact that anyone eligible to vote can vote and the results of that vote decide how the laws are made makes this a DEMOCRACY. So knock it off, you goofs.
“Start with this reality: the Powers That Be don’t want genuine democracy...”
I’m not a powers that be, but I don’t want a genuine democracy either. There is a reason for a representative republic.
“The fact that anyone eligible to vote can vote and the results of that vote decide how the laws are made makes this a DEMOCRACY. So knock it off, you goofs.”
The key word there is ELIGIBLE, goof. There is no right to vote. There is no mention of democracy in the Constitution at all. Matter of fact, our founders are on record all over the place letting folks know exactly what they think of “democracy”, and it isn’t pleasant.
Maybe we ARE becoming a democracy. That would explain the ability of the welfare class to vote them selves money from the government coffers. It would explain the ability of politicians to buy votes with pork. Something our founders feared and warned against.
When you reduce your sample group to just registered voters you’re dropping off the worst section of the non-voting people: the ones that can’t even be bothered to register much less actually vote.
122 million people voted for the presidency in 2004, that’s not enough. Especially when you consider how easy it is here. In a country where nobody is going to shoot you for voting, and you can probably do it absentee from the comfort of your living room, our voting turn out is somewhere between not impressive and shameful.
I think that you are likely to get slammed after that post.
FR.com has a lot of students of the Constitution here.
What part of this statement don't you understand? Ever hear of K-street lobbyists? What business do you think they are in, the best for all or the best for a few? Do you think they are successful or unsuccessful in this business? (hint: what happens to a business that fails to deliver the goods?). Who pays for all that lobbying, everyone equally, or a small incredibly well-off financial elite? (hint: how many checks did you write to lobbying firms last month)
“So knock it off, you goofs.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The Constitution of the United States of America guarantees a “Republican” form of government, there is no mention of democracy. It has been said that the term democracy was first used to refer to our government when WWII was called “The war to make the world safe for democracy”. The term “representative democracy” is a modern one and as far as I know was not one ever used by the founding fathers who considered democracy to be far removed from the type of government needed to ensure freedom. Democracy in those days did not have the positive connotations associated with the word now, it was looked at in nearly the same way as communism is today.
122 million people voted for the presidency in 2004,....our voting turn out is shamefully high, as many uninformed citizens and cast votes,along with the dead.
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