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Re:War and Democracy don't mix very well!
Thank you, Arnaud, for your very thoughtful comments.
I find it very disturbing that the Bush administration points to free elections and says, "see, I was right!" He points to the fall of the Hussein regime, and says, "if the Democrats had been in power, Sadam Hussein would still be in power in Iraq.
The Bush administration, unfortunately is winning a tremendous amount if domestic support for its outlandish policies by pretending everything is very simple, and that's very effective, because, unfortunately, many citizens of the US are impressed by simplification. What we often overlook is that simplification of complicated situations hides important ramifications.
When Bush makes the decision to invade Iraq a matter of having or not having Sadam Hussein in power, he creates a false dilemma, he puts dissenters in the position being seen as supporters of Hussein. But the truth is, you don’t have to like Hussein in order to value the principle of due process of law, one of our most basic constitutional principles, and one which we conveniently decided to ignore when we invaded Iraq.
As Arnaud astutely points out making a country appear democratic is not the same as making it democratic. And there is nothing democratic at all about imposing the US way of government at the point of a gun.
Our problem is and has been (ever since there has been a United States of America), that we treat our values the way we treat our religion in this country. Whether we admit it out loud or not, we are convinced that our way of doing things is the only sensible way, and we think we’re doing people a favor by marching into their countries and requiring them to adopt our lifestyle.
I can’t blame other countries for finding us arrogant. We are.
Fortunately, I hope, we aren’t all.
Thanks for the topic, Cassie!
Mark Springer
Sacramento, CA USA
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Language pair: French; English
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Mark S.
March 19, 2005
# Msgs: 26
Latest: April 23, 2005
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Re:Pure Opinion: Is America a democracy?
I think any discussion of something like this has to start with the understanding that these terms we use are convenient lables for certain ideals that we value, and that the reality is always far messier than the concepts.
Yes, we always say that America is a democracy, and President Bush is always making a lot of noise about how he is fighting to defend democracy. But technically, a democracy is one in which the people directly govern. That would mean that we would have to take days off work all the time to all fly to Washington D.C. (all voting adults in the whole country) to participate in deliberations on every bill that comes before congress. Of course, nowadays, we could probably do it all on the Internet and not have to all go, but we’ve only had the Internet for about thirty years.
Usually, when people talk about democracy, they mean it in a more general way, so that the republic your parents were talking about is really a special kind of democracy. In fact, we call our democracy a “representative” democracy, which is another way of saying a republic.
But as you rightly observe, we’re not even exactly a republic when our legislative bodies and public opinion are so easily swayed by monied interests and by propaganda. We are clearly not an absolute plutarchy (government by the wealthy), but the rich do have an inordinate amount of influence over our government, and this has been painfully obvious in California as our state initiative system has been progressively usurped and abused by special interests. This is all perfectly consistent with the assessment Winston Churchill made when he said, “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time” (Hansard, November 11, 1947).
I think I discovered the basic prioblem while taking a course in economics some years ago. The human dynamic, essentially, is to put our energy into whatever offers us the highest payoff—As Adam Smith pointed out, we move according to the law of supply and demand. Thus everything comes down to economics, and we can see, when we examine human behavior on a mass scale, that that is exactly how we behave as a collective.
The problem is, nobody has yet figured out how to factor abstract values into our economic formulas. If some genius could figure out a dollar value for clean air, for a college education, for the right to vote, and so forth, if we could tie all communal human values into the consumer price index, then maybe we could motivate ourselves more effectively to preserve a healthy, clean, equitable world for our children and our grandchildren. Please let me know if you figure out how to do this, so I can vote for you for President!
Cheers,
Mark Springer
Sacramento, CA USA
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Language pair: English; All
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Mark S.
February 27, 2005
# Msgs: 6
Latest: June 4, 2005
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I can teach 3 languages.
For anyone who is interested, I can teach French, English, and Haitian Creole.
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Language pair: French; English
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Marie P.
February 21, 2005
# Msgs: 1
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Ý am looking real girl friend from japan..not child.
Hi my name is ferhat from Turkey /istanbul..I do computer whole sale part and engineer too..If serious japanese lady contact me i want to be friend and try to study for my poor japanese.. for my job often i visit japan and feel very lonely.. pls help..my mailoryahoo id. hakseverferhat add me and we can chat with you too..
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Language pair: English; Japanese
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ferhat h.
November 22, 2004
# Msgs: 1
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Lee San C.
August 17, 2004
# Msgs: 1
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Greetings from Bulgaria:)
Hello,
My name is Pavel.I am a 45 year old, married man from Bulgaria.I have been teaching myself English for about
some years and I'm looking for anyone who is studying Bulgarian and would like practice.
I prefer the 'PenPals' and the 'Text Chat'.
Hey people let's begin:-)
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Language pair: Bulgarian; Bulgarian
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Pavel M.
August 12, 2004
# Msgs: 1
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Noticia de Venezuela - I want some questions in English
For Intermediate Spanish level- English native:
Mercosur exonera arancel algunos productos venezolanos
A partir de agosto Venezuela no pagará arancel en productos como los derivados del aluminio, acero, productos del mar, atún, sardinas, cuando los exporte a los países miembros del
Mercado Común del Sur ( Mercosur).
El presidente del Banco de Comercio Exterior ( Bancoex),
Victor Álvarez, afirmó que en el Mercosur hay un reconocimiento
de las asimetrías entre los países, el acuerdo del ingreso de éste organismo ha consistido en que los países van a eliminar el impuesto de importación que le cobran a Venezuela para que pueda vender sus productos en esos países.
Alvarez afirmó que no solo Venezuela puede reservarse para 10 o 15 años la eliminación del arancel de los productos más sensibles en el sentido en el que son sectores en el que se genera mucho trabajo y tienen un impacto positivo importante sobre el desarrollo económico de un estado o municipio, sino que también en los productos que tienen acceso inmediato a los mercados del Mercosur le da una gran oportunidad a Venezuela ya que en esos mercados el país no sólo compite con la oferta local, sino que también con países europeos, asiáticos que si tienen que pagar un arancel y en los que Venezuela tendría ventaja competitiva.
La diferencia entre el Mercosur y el Alca es abismal – explicó Álvarez-, ya que en el Alca, no se respetan las disparidades entre los países, y por ejemplo, un país del centro América tendría que competir con los Estados Unidos.
Son condiciones desventajosas para las economías más pequeñas.
En el Mercosurhabrá integración compleja, energética, comercial, financiera, cultural y comunicacional.
Best Regards,
If somebody can understand this and send commets I will be happy to answer .
Mary
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Language pair: Spanish; English
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maryjaponte l.
July 20, 2004
# Msgs: 1
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WarrenJ Y.
December 8, 2003
# Msgs: 2
Latest: December 8, 2003
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How to Learn About Insurance Law and Practises In China
The title says it all.
As both Liberty Mutual and SunLife Insurance begin a major push into the P.R. China, market share will shift.
I am a Canadian Insurance expert lawyer, currently teaching English at a Vocational College in Jinan.
I am intrigued by the American Insurance push into China.
I obtained a Juris Doctorate of Law in Washington, practised there a bit, and returned to Canada to set up shop about 20 years ago.
I wish to learn of Insurance practises in China.
How is a car accident injury claim settled?
What are the heads of damages?
How are General Damages for pain and suffering,Loss of Past and Prospective Income, Past and Future Care, Housekeeping, Retraining,
Costs, Incidental Special Damages, and Interest calculated?
Is there a P.P.D. percentage for Orthopedic disability in place?
How is consistency in Awards and settlement assured, OR is it just "hit and miss" as it was in Canada for many years, before a systemized approach was established?
What about Mediation?
Is Mediation, by an unbiased third party in place, to avoid expensive litigation?
Without precautions to avoid litigation, how will China avoid the horrific learning curve hit by both the USA and Canadian Governments, as people become more aware of their rights in serious injury claims, and seek plausible solutions, pitted against Insurers overwhelmed by new and aging claims, eroding their bottom line.
Just curious...
Regards,
Warren J. Yake
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Language pair: English; Latin
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WarrenJ Y.
October 17, 2003
# Msgs: 2
Latest: December 8, 2003
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