Do you think the US will fail as a Democracy within your lifetime?

[JEDI]

- Corporations and special interests $$$
- voters vote for those who promise the most out of the public treasury
- Politicians wont do anything unless it's an emergency or public outcry
- Cabinet Secretaries switch sides and work for the very corporations/industry they were charged in over seeing. ie: Big Pharmacy

or does every gen think that?


edit:
Over 200 years ago Alexis DeTocqueville made a prophetic statement. He said ""A democracy can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over lousy fiscal policy

 

[NoStateofMind]

We aren't a democracy. At least thats what we're told. But it has already failed. Life support only lasts so long.

 

[Incorruptible]

Democracy has already failed. The US was never meant to be a democracy but a Constitutional Republic to ensure that the rights of the people couldn't be trampled by others.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

We haven't been anything approaching a democracy in some time. Pick any candidate as long as it's Hobson's? A duopoly isn't a democracy.

 

[Nebor]

We aren't a democracy. At least thats what we're told. But it has already failed. Life support only lasts so long.

This. We're just coasting at this point. We ran out of steam years ago.

 

[Zorkorist]

Government has surpassed all bounds, and that leads to the failure of nations.

tl;dr We have already failed. Government did it. (The Simpsons)

-John

 

[Agent11]

Nope.

 

[Oldgamer]

We are a Republic with a democratic process. I think history has shown our democratic process waffles back and forth with the balance of power on a see saw between democrats and republicans. Since electing our first black President we are seeing a lot of ugliness in Washington, and down right racism. The vitriol and dysfunction has created a whole new breed of elected officials who are young, arrogant, and are not interested in this countries people. I hope things turn around and more people get involved in the voting process and weed some of these terrible representatives out of office. I think we are still a very new country and we are still evolving. On the whole though I think our democratic process has worked the way it should.

 

[Fenixgoon]

i think it's probable, yes.

 

[PokerGuy]

I agree with some of the previous posts, democracy has already failed. We're just coasting off the accomplishments of prior generations.

 

[boomerang]

We'll make it if we have a friend that will help us through the financial collapse that is inevitable. Unfortunately, we have no friends on the planet with pockets that deep.

Edit: OP, you should really change the title. It reflects poorly on you when you refer to the nation as a Democracy.

 

[JTsyo]

I hope when it finally hits people how far down the rabbit hole we're things can change without bring everything crashing down around us. There's no reason the current system shouldn't work if the public would be involved in the process instead of being lead.

 

[PokerGuy]

There's no reason the current system shouldn't work if the public would be involved in the process instead of being lead.

That's the issue, much of the population is either too stupid or to apathetic to be involved, so we end up with idiots "leading" us down the drain. We get what we deserve. People are getting more and more entitled, wanting government/their fellow citizen to do everything for them, which is reflected in government.

 

[fskimospy]

It's always interesting to read threads like that. Americans have a bizarre tendency to believe that they live in a time of deterioration, beset by threats from all sides, etc.

America will be fine, the complaints in this thread are the same complaints that people have been saying for two centuries now.

 

[etrigan420]

It's always interesting to read threads like that. Americans have a bizarre tendency to believe that they live in a time of deterioration, beset by threats from all sides, etc.

America will be fine, the complaints in this thread are the same complaints that people have been saying for two centuries now.

Yup.

It's like a "The End Is Near" signholders convention up in here, with the corresponding grasp on reality that one would expect from such a gathering.

 

[irishScott]

No, I don't. Anything's possible, but we have a pretty solid track record of democratic survival. Hell our civil war was between two democracies.

That said, I see a hugely critical point coming up some time in the next few decades where we will be making fundamental decisions on the direction of our democracy, whether we go more libertarian or more welfare-statist. I'd like to see a nice mix myself.

 

[fskimospy]

Yup.

It's like a "The End Is Near" signholders convention up in here, with the corresponding grasp on reality that one would expect from such a gathering.

I've been here since 2006 and the collapse of America has been imminent for at least the last 7 or so years now. I imagine the collapse of America will be imminent all the way up until everyone on here dies of old age.

And in case you are wondering there will be no admission of this endless string of wrongness, just more confident predictions of disaster.

 

[PokerGuy]

It's always interesting to read threads like that. Americans have a bizarre tendency to believe that they live in a time of deterioration, beset by threats from all sides, etc.

America will be fine, the complaints in this thread are the same complaints that people have been saying for two centuries now.

This country has always been under all sorts of threats, but we've never been in a situation where the threats are simultaneously from inside and outside. For example, we've never been in a situation where more than 50% of households get government assistance of some form.

Yes, there have always been threats, both from within and external, but I really don't think we've ever had the combination of internal and external threats that we face right now, combined with a weak economic footing and a dismal outlook in terms of education compared to the rest of the world (at least not since the early days of the republic).

I truly hope I'm wrong on this, but I think we're seeing the US crumble under it's own weight.

 

[PokerGuy]

I've been here since 2006 and the collapse of America has been imminent for at least the last 7 or so years now. I imagine the collapse of America will be imminent all the way up until everyone on here dies of old age.

And in case you are wondering there will be no admission of this endless string of wrongness, just more confident predictions of disaster.

The collapse is not going to be a quick "one day to the next" thing, it's slow erosion, and it's already well underway. By every conceivable measure I think we're heading in the wrong direction as a country, it's just a matter of how quickly.

 

[irishScott]

The collapse is not going to be a quick "one day to the next" thing, it's slow erosion, and it's already well underway. By every conceivable measure I think we're heading in the wrong direction as a country, it's just a matter of how quickly.

America, like the rest of the world, has cycles. Things get worse, we rise to the challenge and for one brief period of time have a golden age, then greed and complacency takes over and things get worse again. The key difference with America is since our founding we've risen to the challenge every time, and there's no reason to think next time will be any different.

 

[fskimospy]

Oh really. So do you have a timetable of how we can expect this collapse? What are some good markers for that progress and do you have approximate dates for them? You don't have to be super specific, I just want some generalized check-in times.

 

[OlafSicky]

It failed a long time ago

 

[Smoblikat]

We arent a democracy, and we are barely a constitutional republic. Once hussein gets "elected" for his third term in office we will all be screwed.

 

[raildogg]

I worry more about the people rather than the country. It's the people that make a country. Unfortunately, we want other people to change first and only then will we even consider changing ourselves. We're passing our responsibilities to other people, such as politicians, and in the process becoming lazier, nastier, and careless. It's only getting worse. These budget problems and infrastructure problems are only a tiny problem when you see how people are.

 

[gevorg]

What do you mean there is no democracy in US? Its our best export to the world!