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Old 11-12-2004, 03:30 PM   #38 (permalink)
roachboy
 
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if the states was in any meanigful way a democracy, maybe there would be an argument for the majority position being more correct than another--democracy would presuppose informed debate amongst members of the population because they would be charged with the direct exercize of power. which would mean that they would need information. they would need to agree on ways to deal with distortion. there would have to be meaingful debate.

none of these basic conditions obtains in the states. democracy is a word thrown around from within a clilmate of managed opinion. information is obviously distorted--distortion is routine, all part of marketing a particular political position. debate is largely meaningless, and even where it is not there are very few mechanisms in which people exercisze power directly, as a collective.

in the states, political decisions are packaged like consumer options. in the states, politics is a type of consumption.

if that is true, then the question of whether the majority is right or not would be like wondering if the fact that more people eat skippy than jiff peanut butter meant that skippy is right and jiff wrong.
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Last edited by roachboy; 11-12-2004 at 03:38 PM..
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