s13g3's Journal: Democracies and Republics

I was looking through my old posts, and thought it was a shame that few people probably read this. I also thought it was a fine bit of writing on my part, and it's somewhat relevant to the issues of the day, so I'm reposting it in my journal, not that anyone is likely to read it here either, but I think its worthwhile.

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  How many times do you people have to be told???
The US is a Republic not a Socialist Democracy, so please, get your facts straight people! Mob-rule does not work! Besides, "Democracies" never wind up being democratic for more than the 10 minutes it takes for a Mao-Tse-Tsung or Stalin to step in. History is FULL of examples of failed attempts at democratic goverments, whether they fell to exterior forces b/c of a lack of decent, cohesive foreign policies or whether they fell from the inside due to lack of consistent domestic policies, they always fail, they fail pretty quickly, and they fall HARD. No government or nation has ever stood as it was forever, but some last longer than others, and republics (the way our nation was designed to be as set forth in the constitution) tend to fare better than most.

Rome was a republic too. Rome also fell. But yanno, during the time of the Roman Republic, the citizens of Rome were by far and large much better off than the citizens of any other land, as are the citizens of the U.S. right now... Beware those who would make our great nation a Socialist one and then subject (or subvert) it's will and the will and wants of it's people to another entity like the U.N. who just wants to steal money and resources from those who work so hard to make this country the great place it is. Billary would rather everybody get equal shares for unequal work, rather than reward those who deserve it and let those who do nothing (e.q. 60%+ of welfare recipients, IMO) and deserve support the least to rot, as it should be. Take a closer look at the LEFT and the FAR LEFT as well as it's figureheads and leaders, and you'll get a much clearer picture of Socialism and Facism than you will from the right. My biggest problem with the right-wingers is their religious agenda and anti-abortion stances, but the last thing you can do is call them facist. Pull your head out of your ass and try a dispassionate and honest observation of your own views before you start dissembling on the views of others.

Wow, this whole thread is WAY off topic... Classic example of what /. has degenerated to, I suppose. Shame on me for contributing to it, but these people need straightening out, damnit.

Opposing abortion

[Tikiman]

My biggest problem with the right-wingers is their religious agenda and anti-abortion stances, but the last thing you can do is call them facist. Pull your head out of your ass and try a dispassionate and honest observation of your own views before you start dissembling on the views of others.

Those who oppose abortion believe, quite simply, that human life deserves protection for some period before the 22 weeks or so already allowed by the Supreme Court. It also worthwhile that although many religious folks feel this way, many scientists (particularly neonatologists) observe that a ten-week fetus with all major organs, a beating heart, and brainwaves is a human being that is pretty much the same as an infant, and that "viability" is simply a question of medical technology, not a line that divides precious human life from "just a lump of tissue". Nat Hentoff, a liberal atheist who writes for the Villiage Voice, says:

Yet being without theology isn't the slightest hindrance to being pro-life. As any obstetrics manual--Williams Obstetrics, for example--points out, there are two patients involved, and the one not yet born "should be given the same meticulous care by the physician that we long have given the pregnant woman." Nor, biologically, does it make any sense to draw life-or-death lines at viability. Once implantation takes place, this being has all the genetic information within that makes each human being unique. And he or she embodies continually developing human life from that point on. It missses a crucial point to say that the extermination can take place because the brain has not yet functioned or because that thing is not yet a "person." Whether the life is cut off in the fourth week or the fourteenth, the victim is one of our species, and has been from the start.

You might get something about what he has to say on abortion [mit.edu].

Re:Opposing abortion

[s13g3]

OK, the above isn't to say that I don't think that the unborn are undeserving of proteciton or rights... You'll note that I don't identify with either party specifically... BUT... The Conservatives want to ban abortion altogether, and while the unborn may one day be a life, what about the life of the mother? Does she not have the right to decide what to do with her body? How about the woman who was raped whom the conservatives want to flatly deny her the right to not have to carry a rapists child to te

Re:Opposing abortion

[s13g3]

BTW, out of curiosity, what got you reading my journal?

Re:Opposing abortion

[Tikiman]

OK, the above isn't to say that I don't think that the unborn are undeserving of proteciton or rights... You'll note that I don't identify with either party specifically... BUT... The Conservatives want to ban abortion altogether, and while the unborn may one day be a life, what about the life of the mother? Does she not have the right to decide what to do with her body?

You should check out Liberterians for Life [l4l.org]. They make the case that human fetus deserves the same rights afforded to adults. Consequ

Re:Opposing abortion

[einhverfr]

Well.... Personally, I think that there are a few different issues here that people don't want to deal with.

The first is that the right to choice in medical care is generally accepted to be protected under the 14th and 4th ammendments, and these have been the cornerstones for decisions regarding whether someone is allowed to refuse life-saving therapy. Overturning Roe v. Wade has serious constitutional consequences, I think, though IANAL.

Also note that if abortion is *not* protected under the 14th ammen

Right-wing fascists

[einhverfr]

I would take exception to your argument that the left is closer to fascism than the right. The left has largely been relegated today to an opposition voice.

However, look at the Bush administration, its emphesis on secrecy and its attacks on the foundations of our great republic. Ever since Sept. 11th, they have maintained a constant attack on our judicial system of which the detention of Padilla is just the tip of the iceberg. Additionally, I think it is informative to look at the way in which Wilhelm R