Is America a Dictatorship?

[bryant69]

Right now, July 18, 2007, are we a dictatorship?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[napi21]

1. Not yet, but ShrubCo is TRYING HARD! n/t

[soothsayer]

3. indeed!

[treestar]

2. No, but there's some danger of it

Chimperor and Cheney's actions indicate they'd clearly like it. Many of the People are not particularly hip to the danger, and there is that 25% that would prefer a dictatorship.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. More like an oligarchy.

NOUN:
pl. ol·i·gar·chies

1.
1. Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.
2. Those making up such a government.
2. A state governed by a few persons.

[bryant69]

7. Oligarchy and dictatorship are not mutually exclusive though

I don't think.

I would agree that America is a de facto oligarchy, but of course that is nothing new.

Bryant

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. I think that our oligarchy is more insidious.

Because it veils itself as a "democracy" where the citizenry is allowed to vote for a field of candidates that are, in fact, and necessarily, beholden to the those that finance them.

[bryant69]

15. I don't know if I would agree with insiduous

Certainly we need public financing of campaigns, but even if we did, it would still largely be the wealthy few who have the time to take months off to campaign who would be representing us.

Bryant

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

20. No doubt. But, public financing would, at least, open the door.

And, if real election reform were to take place (an event about as likely as Dubya reading and comprehending "War and Peace"), that would limit, or forbid, privately funded media political ads, we could approach a more realistic semblance of democracy.

[TahitiNut]

16. Yep. It's a plutocratic oligarchy - the best government money can buy.

:shrug:

[jefferson_dem]

5. Nope. Not even close.

As long as "we" can legally remove any would-be-dictator from his position of authority, and effecitively check his or her power otherwise...we do not fit the definition.

[T Wolf]

13. Haven't seen any removal or even any "check" as yet.

So, maybe not technically, but de facto.

[givemebackmycountry]

6. Not Yet...

But believe me, they are working overtime to make that a reality.

[YOY]

9. Exactly

n/t

[Lerkfish]

8. another choice: we in the american version of it.

its called the "unitary executive"

it won't be like the other types of dictatorships, in that it has the appearance of democracy, but is an ipso facto dictatorship, in that all branches obey the executive, and all judicial branches are taken over by cronies.

[bryant69]

10. That's not an other

There's a quote i've seen attributed to Abraham Lincoln - where he asked "If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a cow have. Answer? 4. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."

Calling dictatorship the unitary executive doesn't make it not a dictatorship.

Bryant

[Lerkfish]

17. well, then I'd have to say we are in a defacto dictatorship

[The2ndWheel]

11. For what?

We all get up and go to work everyday. We all pay our taxes. We all play the same game. Corporations or the government increasingly own what makes life possible(land, food, water, air). What would need to be dictated to us? Who is stepping out of line exactly? If anyone does step out of line, who pays attention? We have to get our food(we don't own it) and permits(to simply protest). Yeah, the NSA spies on Americans(directly or indirectly). Not new, but it only makes sense.

Not sure why we would need a dictator. We've elected to give power away.

[porphyrian]

12. Not yet, and now is the time to stop it from becoming one. - n/t

[Freddie Stubbs]

18. If it were, would DU exist?

:shrug:

[SoonerPride]

19. Aslong as we remain powerless, they let us yammer away ineffectually.

No harm in us chattering nonsense all day long.

If we turned into an armed revolt, you'd see this place vanish into fat air.

[Javaman]

21. if miers get a pass, yes it is. until then, we are certainly on our way.

I'm thinking though more along the lines of proto-fascism.

[dave_p]

22. Probably not

There's a sufficiently degenerated chunk of its electorate that it doesn't need to be.

"Democracy" and "Dictatorship" are just equally-unattainable ends of a spectrum anyway, with all countries displaying some mix of unaccountable power and popular support or at least acquiescence. The US probably lies somewhere in the middle, along with most developed countries: its supposed entrenchment of rights to expression and participation should shift it toward the democratic end, but successive Administrations of both parties have been as astute as their European counterparts in hiving off vast realms of policy from meaningful oversight or public discourse with the assistance of a still more depraved corporate media.

Throw in a bit of apocalyptic scaremongering among a mighty, hardworking and creative people abnormally prone to pathetic fits of self-pitying paranoia, and dictatorship in any active sense becomes still more redundant. The good news is that the rest of the world's becoming just as barren of policy creativity, so there's less scope for unfavorable comparison.