Democracy, the USA and the UK.

The average shmoe, god bless his soul, labours under the notion that living in a democracy means you get to vote for stuff. Like a leader for example.

Of course in Iraq under Saddam, in the former Soviet Union, today in Iran and other despotic nations voting is commonplace even if it is as rigged as many claim the first Bush election was and many more offer evidence that the second Obama election also might have been. But this is highly secondary to the point.

What makes a democracy is the type and nature, and non-partisan nature of the institutions of state.

In other words, a democracy is a place where, just to pull an example out at random, the agency that collects tax revenue for the state should neither know nor care what your politics are, or what organizations you may belong to, but follows a very strict code as to how you are to pay your taxes based on criteria to be universally applied to all people within that country.

The military, as in the case of Turkey, must also be non-partisan and the government may not send in spies to rid the military of key people because those people may object to substantial changes in the nature of the system. Hugo Chavez also did this when he made his own gang of thugs, the Red Shirts, a branch of the military to spy on the regular members. The fact that people may or may not have voted in Chavez had little to do with Venezuela’s failure as a democracy. It was the destruction of the institutions of state as democratic institutions that, at least as I see it, cost it that title.

Some of these kinds of machinations by governments however are more gray zone. For example; in the UK, government is considering dismissing members of the Armed Forces if they are known to be members of, or take part in, EDL activities.

This would have nothing to do with their job performance whatsoever. Only that they support a group that, from many people’s perspective, do a better job at preserving and fighting for British values and law than the government itself.

But would this be forcing the military to become a partisan organization the way Turkey did when it jailed or dismissed all senior members of the forces who support Ataturk’s secular Turkey constitution? Or Hugo Chavez when he introduced his own spies to the military to roust out ideological opponents?

Anyone who knows the difference between Tina Fey and Sarah Palin should probably all think about and all decide this for ourselves. Democracy after all, requires a bit more work to sustain than a dictatorship, benign or not. Those who don’t know the difference may want to apply for permanent residency in North Korea.

Eeyore for Vlad.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

7 Replies to “Democracy, the USA and the UK.”

  1. The situation described above is the reason those of us wo are paying attention are worried about freedom surviving in the US and the UK, many trace their worries about freedom back to the military bloggers, prior to 2009 there was no censorship of the blogs even when they were critical of military of government policy. Since 2009 we have seen increasing numbers of military personal who are punished for opposing the policies of the Obama administration.

  2. So if you support the EDL, a patriotic institution that is probably in line with the philosophy of other great patriots such as Winston Churchill, you can be kicked out of the Armed Forces.

    But if you are a Muslim and you support the Muslim faith, an ideology that according to it’s own scriptures condones violence and was mistrusted by many great patriots such as er…… Winston Churchill, you won’t automatically be kicked out of the Armed Forces.

    Yep, makes a lot of sense!

  3. Bob, Obama is trying to stop the practice of Christianity by all personal in the US military, his soul mates in Britain are taking a different approach to reach the destruction of the west.

  4. Both the USA and the UK are now engaged in mass snooping and invasion of the privacy of individuals. What the extent is no one knows, or ever will. This is a far greater destruction of the democratic state then anything the terrorists can achieve short of nukes.

    Its ironic that the nation that gave rise to the Magna Carta, Bill of Rights, and the sanctity of the Englishman’s home a castle, has sacrificed all the above in this war. As for the USA, it prides itself on the constitution. If this is where we have ended up, then the Jihadis have won.

  5. Next step in islamisation of Briton is fast tracking islamic officers in the armed forces, already happening in the police force.

  6. James

    Most Muslims will never consider joining the army, as they would be required to take part in action against fellow Muslims. If they do, they will loyal to Islam rather then to Britain and turn as Hasan at Fort Hood.

    One must bear in mind, that the armed forces of the UK take an oath of loyalty to Her Majesty the Queen, Defender of the Protestant faith.

  7. We are playing out the end game to the war with communism, the major battlefield enemies right now are the Moslems but the left is up there with them as enemies of freedom. Thanks to a lot of hard work the left has managed to gain control of most of the media and the educational establishments, those coupled with their control of the entertainment industry and they control most of what the kids learn and how they will think. This gives tehm a major advantage at the ballot box and when like Ohio massive vote fraud occurs they gain an Many even bigger hold over us.

    Many people in the US see this and are worried about what is happening, we really don’t know if the differences between the left and the right will be settled peacefully or violently. We already know the Moslems will refuse any peaceful settlement that isn’t total surrender to them.