I found......
 

.......this while searching for sane opinions in the American right.

Re: I found......
 

'This concept is hardly "novel". From Machiavelli to Castro, and from Marx to Stalin, different forms of socialism have "evolved" from a Utopian theory into a manifestation of evil - killing millions of innocent people along the way.'

:up:

Re: I found......
 

Interesting that they mention Machiavelli in the same sentence as Castro, Marx and Stalin.

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Wow, this is the most amazing thing I have ever read. I am truly stunned.

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Using old socialist terms like "political cooperation" and dictatorial language like "define(s) and manage(s)",

I FELL OFF MY ****ING CHAIR DAMNIT

Re: I found......
 

it gets worse;

This body [The ICC] has a general mandate to prosecute such vague "crimes" as human rights abuses and war crimes.

TERRORIST TRIBUNALS ANYONE! ILLEGALT DETENTION ON THE CHARGE OF 'BEING AN ENEMY'?

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will stop making new posts soon, but

One pristine example of this trampling of liberty is the proposed elimination of capital punishment

JESUS H TAPDANCING CHRIST


oh, and the last 3 paragraphs:
wtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtf
wtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtf
wtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtf
wtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtf
wtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtfwtf

Re: I found......
 

Irony of ironies with an ironic touch of ironed irony.

Re: I found......
 

Surely the Ancient Greeks had the oldest "democracy" in the world. Of course, only "citizens" could vote in the senate, and the requirments for citizenship were very strict...

Re: I found......
 

The Ancient Greeks (Athenians, mainly) did indeed have the oldest democracy in the world.

The oldest currently surviving one is probably the UK Parliament.

Re: I found......
 

Which would be different from any other democracy 100 years ago how?

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Not much, but many would argue that the Ancient Greeks really had a republic and not a "true" democracy. Of course, no one really lives in a "true" democracy anyway.

Re: I found......
 

The Ancient Athenians had much more of a true democracy then anyone now, as all decisions were made in the Assembly by popular vote.

Of course it was a complete disaster, but we'll ignore that. :)

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Yes but about 80% of the polulation had no vote.

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That's because the first 50% were female and the rest were slaves.

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Yup. Hardly a "popular vote" like we mean today.

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All democracies only let citizens vote.

They just had a narrower definition of "citizen"...

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One which would be laughed at if any country tried it today.

Re: I found......
 

So?

No countries let women vote until about 100 years ago...

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well, slaves obviously wouldn't get to vote, and women voting is new in the American democratic sense so meh

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I want one of those cuddly Northern Americans to defend this.

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oh, the brillance. i wonder if there is more where that came from?

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The Swiss system is older I believe.

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The US doesn't have a democracy, it has a Repersentive Goverment.

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and the most democratic currently in power. :)

Re: I found......
 

And Iceland has the oldest heh.



Although I think the Isle of Man has like the longest sitting parliament in history or something like that.





PS I searched for oldest democracy in the world on google and most of the results said that the US was :(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

Re: I found......
 

Not really, being effectively under Danish rule and all that.

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Iceland's hasn't been continuous.

The Isle of Man's has been, though.

If you search for "oldest commisioned warship" all the results say it's the USS Constitution. :(

Re: I found......
 

We had that argument a while ago too. The modern USA has not been round long enough to compete with Europe on history, that's why they go for size :)

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****ing yanks.

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It's greece isn't it?
In athens, where they used to hold meetings to decide what to do.
Though in true old style, women weren't allowed to attend and vote. In fact, one of those zany greek thinkers wrote a play about what the world would be like if women got the vote ( everything goes wrong and they get invaded etc...)

Re: I found......
 

democracy.
`rule by the people`.

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I cannot begin to express the ignorance displayed by this statement.

(Here's a hint: who do you think invented the word "democracy"?)

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Democracy: Bread and Circuses.

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You uneducated ****.

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My point exactly.

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???

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Seeing as Switzerland was conquered by the french in 1789 and was under their rule for twenty odd years, they aren't the oldest democracy as that was only established in 1815 if we're going to get all ****ing pedantic.

Not to mention the fact that the Swiss confederation expanded back then and isn't the same country that it is today (geographically speaking) by a long shot.

Or that many of the swiss cantons were ruled by the local aristocracies, notably the Bern canton until the french invasion, the bale cantons which were ruled so oppressively that revolt broke out and the original canton was forced to split. What's funny about Switzerland is that some of the current cantons were invaded and ruled by decree by the other ones. That and the fact it took Napoleon to unite most of the final cantons in his Act of Mediation.



Edit: why the **** did this thread close? :(

Re: I found......
 

I bow before your greater googling :D
No idea, though I have (I think) discovered why the US thinks it has the world's oldest democracy. They have the world's oldest written constitution and many people seem to mistakenly believe that a constitution (written or otherwise) is an essential part of a democracy.

Re: I found......
 

In fairness to me I did know that France had invaded Switzerland during the revolution. The rest of the stuff I freely admit I had no ****ing clue about heh.





The constitution thing is a bit silly as that would imply that changing your constitution means that you're no longer the same democracy you were beforehand meaning that the US is only as old as it's last amendement.

Re: I found......
 

a written constitution restricts democracy.

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Yes indeed, ****ing Yanks.