Democracy is my religion.

[lildreamer316]

I am a fundamentalist when it comes to Democracy. I will brook no person who only believes in practicing it in part, or in saying they fully embrace it but not actually practicing it. I believe it will be our salvation; the way and the light. There should be no false idols of democracy, and you should not worship them if you see them.
Many others have laid down their lives for this form of belief; and I am not scared to lay down mine..
There have been many prophets, and much scripture written. Wise heads came together many years ago and set down a few Amendments and Rights that I firmly believe should NEVER be tampered with. Those ARE posted in our schools and halls of government, where they belong in my fundamental opinion. If you try to use the Constitution for toilet paper, you'll have to go through me (although it seems I may not have been effective this time).

The one way leads to all ways. If you believe in Democracy, it allows you to believe anything else you want to. Eh?

Just some ideas, not as clearly thought out as I'd like.

[Chulanowa]

1. Sort of unrelated, but...

I've lately been wondering if, perhaps, America really does have an official religion, after all?

The more I think about it, the more I believe it to be true. We have a pantheon composed of humanist and moral ideals, given form and personality across the breadth of the nation.

Justice:


Liberty:


Freedom:


Columbia:


Wisdom:

[lildreamer316]

4. I do think it could be counted as one probably.

WOuld be an interesting study,that's for sure. Having said that, I bet someone is right now teaching a course with that premise in it somewhere.

[Igel]

2. Devil's advocate, here.

Pure democracy is majoritarianism, and is noxious unless the majority plays nice and exercises restraint (not required for a democracy, but required for any sort of minority rights) or there are undemocratic constraints placed on the system.

I like representation. I like limits on democracy, severe limits. People don't always place nice. Fortunately, we have them. The founding fathers should have taken more steps to limits some aspects of democracy and enhance some aspects of representation, but they needed to get slave states to sign on, didn't they?

After all, a vote in 1792 would have declared that slavery was, um, democratic.

[lildreamer316]

5. Eh,

the post was a small bit tounge-in-cheek in that, as in all religions, there are inherent pitfalls to believing in something so strongly that one is "fundamental" about it. Most people have something in their life they feel that way about, whether it be organized religion or something else. I decided that if I'm gonna have something I'm fanatical and slightly unreasonable about, it should be Democracy. It could use a bit of it.
In actuality I long for a world where everyone's mind is a bit more open and even-keeled about EVERY thing, but that's not to be for awhile.

On Edit: And one could argue that they founders contradicted themselves, stating truth first (all men are created equal) and then backtracking (slavery) further on. Human they were, even as exceptional as I still believe them to have been.

[Igel]

8. Sorry.

Kid's not quite 3, and driving me a bit batty. Wife's under the weather. Dissertation should be done and it isn't. And I'm auditing an Arabic class. And I find myself talking in sentences that sound like literal translations of 19th century German philosophers ... at their most tendentious.

I think the last vestige of my sense of humor vanished some time last month.

[lildreamer316]

9. No need

to apologize; it was meant to be taken somewhat seriously but not all the way.
My kid will be three in Dec. I'm with ya on that one!
Best of luck on the dissertation!

[shadowknows69]

3. good post lildreamer

K+R

[readmoreoften]

6. A pure democracy is only as good as its citizenry.

Do I want to live in an islamic fundamentalist democracy where every gets to vote to behead me or stone me to death. I don't think so.

[lildreamer316]

7. True..

please see #5...