Anti War Protesters showing their brains...

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Originally posted by Hero
How does a democracy spring up underneath a dictatorship? Or should I say, how would it without resorting to violence?

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The reason for all of these problems in the first place is because the US supported despots like the Shah of Iran or any other non-democratic dictator who could control the people to serve the US's imperealist interests in the region and it's resources. The people of the Middle East, like people everywhere, yearn for nothing more than equality and freedom. Something the US and it's commercial interests has systematically denied them of.

You want democracy? You want peace? Tell the US and it's self-interest and it's corporations and it's lackies to go the fuck away. :)

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Now, figuring out how to establish a democrasy in the US... that's the hard question.

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Originally posted by Jimmy Carter
Funny, he stimulated the economy...

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The economy was worse under Reagan than it was under any president since the depression, except for maybe Bush Sr.

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Originally posted by Masters
The economy was worse under Reagan than it was under any president since the depression, except for maybe Bush Sr.

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Of course its not really his fault, economic policies take a long time to develop...

Carter (the real one) got the shaft IMO :(

The path to hell is paved with good intentions I guess.

according to the economics course I took, the turnaround on any government fiscal policy is about 4 years or so. Meaning the economy everyone likes to blame Bush for may very well likely be thanks to the last administration.

sggg~You totally sidestepped me and took my question to posture your own ideas. I'm talking now, right now, as things are, how does a dictatorship spring up under Saddam, sans violence?

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Originally posted by Hero
sggg~You totally sidestepped me and took my question to posture your own ideas. I'm talking now, right now, as things are, how does a dictatorship spring up under Saddam, sans violence?

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I assume you mean "democracy", not "dictatorship". The answer is simple. Get the US and it's special interests as far the hell away from Iraq as possible. That's how. The US is not interested in promoting democracy in Iraq now, just like it was not when it gave Saddam permission/support to brutally repress those who sought to overthrow him in the past.

The first part of any answer for having peace and democracy in that region of the world (as well as Columbia, SE Asia, Central America, and so on) is to get the US out, since it is the root of all the problems in the first place. It is only then that the suffering has a chance to stop and that real democracy can be brought to those who suffer at the hands of the Empire.

okaaaaay, I'll ask again.

How does a democracy, a place in which the voices of the people amount to something, a place in which the public gets to elect its leaders, happens when the current situation is under rule of a dictatorship?

'Get the US out'

Okay, then what? Does Saddam mysteriously have a change of heart and go 'okay guys, I guess you can have elections instead of me killing those who oppose my absolute rule?' Do the people rise up in unison against him, in which they are brutally killed (which undermines the whole 'preventing loss of life')?

I really don't get it - the way you talk, the Earth would naturally go back the balance of perfection if every dirty American would go back the hell to America. Or better - they could all die ^_^

Well if economic plans take 4 years, how did the Republican rule of 1980-1992 manage to put us in the biggest deficit in the history of the U.S.? I guess their plan was 16 years eh?

Sggg, take it easy. The U.S. does cause a lot of problems in its meddling, but I don't think that we're the root of all evil. I honestly hope that the U.S. can still be saved from the corporate whore mongers that promote globalization in attempts to line their own pockets. If there is one thing I can point to as the cause of more problems than solutions, it's when Clinton signed over our souls to NAFTA and the WTO. Now corporations are free to take their business to less developed countries to get cheap labor and thus shaft millions of Americans out of jobs. Plus they have to pay little if any import taxes thanks to this deal. These so-called "Free Trade organizations" also promote environmental degradation. It was actually Clinton who decided not to raise the bar on emmissions standards and it was also his idea to drill for oil in Alaska, not Bush. Clinton was clever in his execution though so it seemed like Bush was the wrong doer. I'm no Bush fan, but Clinton did his fair share of misdeeds as well. So America isn't the problem. It's all the corporate ass kissing our politicians are forcing us to do.

I agree that the U.S. is not a real democracy. It would take more time than I have now to explain my position, but perhaps that would be a good thread for tomorrow. I think we need to work out our own problems here before we go off setting up governments for others. Our government needs an overhaul.

SC

so it's the big conglomerate that's to blame. Somehow, it always boils down to that.

*sigh*

Somehow, globalization of the economy is bad, but a social globalization is peachy. Whichever way, no way, my way, your way...

No sense.
Nonsense.
My Sense.
Is never best.

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Originally posted by spacecowboy
I agree that the U.S. is not a real democracy.

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You know, the founding fathers could've told you that. This is no big revelation. In fact, my 1st and 2nd grade teachers made the distinction that the USA is not a democracy, but a republic.