Proglodytes a little hazy on what constitutes democracy

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

This is why they should not be called "Democrats." They absolutely reject the idea of people being allowed to govern themselves. They want what they want and it does not matter how many people they have to trample to get it they will take what they want.

It is also inappropriate to call them "progressive" because they are as regressed towards the ancient governance of despotism as any faction can get nor should they be called "liberal" because they reject any ideas of egalitarianism or freedom.

Liberal_in_LA (44,390 posts)

Sorry, North Carolina, But You Dont Really Qualify as a Democracy Anymore
 
A group of experts that rates the integrity of elections around the world say North Carolina can’t really be considered a democracy anymore. The state where the outgoing governor signed a law stripping his successor of certain powers scored 58/100 in the 2016 election, according to the Electoral Integrity Project, a joint effort between Harvard University and the University of Sydney. That places the state alongside the likes of Cuba, Indonesia and Sierra Leone.

“If it were a nation state, North Carolina would rank right in the middle of the global league table—a deeply flawed, partly-free, democracy that is only slightly ahead of the failed democracies that constitute much of the developing world,” writes Andrew Reynolds, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who is also an EIP adviser. 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/12/23/north_carolina_doesn_t_really_qualify_as_a_democracy_anymore.html

Reynolds was one of the experts responsible for creating the model to evaluate the quality of elections around the world, which involves measuring “50 moving parts of an election process.” And in an op-ed piece for the News & Observer, Reynolds notes he would have never imagined that his state would rank so poorly. But what happens on Election Day is really just the tip of the iceberg. Reynolds explains:

That North Carolina can no longer call its elections democratic is shocking enough, but our democratic decline goes beyond what happens at election time. The most respected measures of democracy – Freedom House, POLITY and the Varieties of Democracy project all assess the degree to which the exercise of power depends on the will of the people: That is, governance is not arbitrary, it follows established rules and is based on popular legitimacy.
Reynolds focused on North Carolina, but looking at EIP’s data it is clear the state is hardly the worst in the United States. Arizona, for example, scored 53/100 while Wisconsin received a 54/100.

So, if elected representatives do something under established constitutional provision it's anti-democratic.

Cutting the number of unelected government officials by 80% is anti-democratic.

Seeking to re-impose those unelected officials upon the people is pro-democracy.

world wide wally (7,154 posts)

1. Ironic that they have killed the country they claim to love so much

Initech (55,417 posts)

3. And have destroyed the document they carry pocket size versions of...

And claim we take literally, verbatim, and absolute

You poor, deprived little tyrants can't have your government officials to push people around.

**** off and die.

Slowly

Painfully

and alone

Cha (189,004 posts)

2. One hope about North Carolina and I do
 
Hope it's true..

Protesting pic @ the link..

How courts could view moves to strip Roy Cooper’s power 

snip//

Democratic Gov.-elect Roy Cooper threatened a lawsuit over limits the Republican-controlled General Assembly voted to place on his power to make political appointments.

“Once more, the courts will have to clean up the mess the legislature made, but it won’t stop us from moving North Carolina forward,” Cooper said in a statement Friday after his Republican predecessor, Gov. Pat McCrory, signed one law and the legislature sent another bill to McCrory’s desk.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article121533522.html#storylink=cpy

Nothing says democracy like judicial fiat.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10028396828

[Carl]

These are the people that cheered on king barkys "pen and phone".

[franksolich]

This is why there's no point in taking the primitives seriously.

They don't know shit about anything, and so as to teach them something, it's just easier and simpler to kick them in the teeth.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

These are the people that cheered on king barkys "pen and phone".

And every time an election goes against them they shop for judges to give them what they want.

[DUmpstruck]

This is why there's no point in taking the primitives seriously.

They don't know shit about anything, and so as to teach them something, it's just easier and simpler to kick them in the teeth.

How do you kick them in the teeth when their heads are so far up their ass?

[franksolich]

How do you kick them in the teeth when their heads are so far up their ass?

Well now, it seems to me that kicking a primitive in the face is the exact same thing as kicking a primitive in the ass.

[SVPete]

From the outfit's Partners webpage:

The project would not have been possible without the generous support and cooperation of the following organizations.

The EIP project is an independent academic project based at the University of Sydney and Harvard University and the sponsoring organizations are not responsible for any of the views expressed by the project.

The Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney

The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
.
.
Global Integrity
.
.
Open Society Foundation
.
Sunlight Foundation
.

Funded by George Soros, what a non-shock! Open Society Foundation was founded and funded by Soros. Global Integrity? $250K from Open Society Foundation (OSF), and $185K from Tides Foundation. Sunlight Foundation? The first funding source W'pedia lists is OSF. Sunlight's president from September, 2014 into early 2016? Christopher T. Gates, former chairman of the Colorado Democrat Party.

[SVPete]

Then there's the "news" source "Liberal_in_LA" linked in his/her OP, Slate.com. Slate was one of the purveyors of the triply false story about the Jewish family who supposedly fled their home county due to being singled out in Fox and Breitbart articles about the cancellation of a Christmas play. The three falsehoods in Slate's article:

* The Jewish family went on a previously planned vacation, they didn't flee anything;

* Fox's article did not name any family, did not mention any religion, and didn't give any clues to anyone's identity;

* Breitbart's article did not name any family, did not mention any religion, and didn't give any clues to anyone's identity.

I just checked the Slate article, and it has been updated to note that the family went on a vacation rather than fleeing in fear. It did not state that they were wrong about Fox's and Breitbart's articles. Unsurprisingly. At BEST, Slate was grossly sloppy, in failing to actually read Fox's and Breitbart's articles. Even I - not anything close to a journalist - thought of doing that in the context of a FB discussion of Slate's story. IOW, at BEST, Slate made a first-week-of-Journalism-101-grade error. Having seen Slate's weaselly update of the story, Slate was and is more malign that that.

So, in addition to the politicizing funding of the organizations that had hands in that "study", the "news" source that reported it is highly partisan and malignly sloppy.

[Patriot Guard Rider]

A democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch

A Democratic Republic is an armed lamb contesting the vote.

[ChuckJ]

Initech (55,417 posts)

3. And have destroyed the document they carry pocket size versions of...

And claim we take literally, verbatim, and absolute

Who ever claimed that they take it literally, verbatim, and absolute?

They do take it as Play-Doh and toilet paper.

[BattleHymn]

Well now, it seems to me that kicking a primitive in the face is the exact same thing as kicking a primitive in the ass.

That's the most succinct thing I've read all week.  H5. 

[BlueStateSaint]

Well now, it seems to me that kicking a primitive in the face is the exact same thing as kicking a primitive in the ass.

My pick for #1 DOTY can do neither without winding up on his ass.