Considering the meaning of democracy is just that decisions are made by the will of the polity’s population, gonna go with ‘yes’.

If you try to think of democracy as some perfect decision-making machine that will decide in accordance with your moral code, the only democracy you’ll find is autocracy.

Democracy results in decision-making that is neither inherently good nor inherently bad. It results in decision-making with broad consensus or acquiescence by the polity’s population. That’s all.

Who the hell is Steve Jobs

Some, after city walls were breached and the citadel refused to surrender. More often, though, at the point troops were in the streets, it was all over but the crying (and looting).

Kind of. There are a lot of serious threats to democracies around the world, but so far most seem to be holding out fairly firmly, if not necessarily ideally.

Serious question, what truly successful, stable and properly representative democracies are there?

Most of the EU. Aussieland and New Zealand. Canada. Taiwan. Mongolia. Mexico and Brazil, if you’ll allow a little wiggle room in ‘stable’. Possibly SK and Japan, depending on your definitions of ‘properly representative’.

Yeah. My old manimal was put down a decade ago, and I still think about him nearly every day. It was crushing, watching it happen.

He didn’t give a damn, though. Cheerful as ever 'til the last breath. Suppose that’s the best any of us can ask to go out like.

There are way more alternatives to capitalism than just Soviet style central planning, man.

More “At that point, we’re discussing moral issues OTHER than democracy” rather than “We shouldn’t try to stop this”

You are right in that I wouldn’t consider the US system as bad at giving individuals a voice as the Chinese/Russian systems.

I mean, that’s my main point of contention. Beyond that I’m not trying to say much.

Independents are allowed to run without the approval of the party, as are third parties in the US system. Furthermore, the two party ‘central committees’ choose the candidates through primary votes. That’s a pretty vast fucking difference.

I mean, even if they didn’t, the mass enslaving and slaughter performed by the conquistadors is enough to prove that they were evil genocidal fucks.

I’m sorry, did we redefine democracy to mean “Democracy except when the vast majority of the population is in favor of supporting a genocidal state”?

I’d like to note that pre-Columbian contact estimates for the population of the Americas vary wildly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_history_of_the_Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas

The Republican Party was formed, explicitly, as an anti-slavery party.

The cruel and inexorable passage of time, and civil war. Also probably the classic human tradition of scavenging from old buildings for material during periods of intense construction.

Explanation: In 1865, Radical Republicans were called such because of their radically pro-civil rights platform, including the abolition of slavery and total legal equality for Black Americans. They were later be instrumental in passing Federal anti-segregation laws (which, unfortunately, were struck down by the Supreme Court).

… I could not guarantee the same for 2021 ‘radical’ Republicans.

Explanation: In 1865, Radical Republicans were called such because of their radically pro-civil rights platform, including the abolition of slavery and total legal equality for Black Americans. They were later be instrumental in passing Federal anti-segregation laws (which, unfortunately, were struck down by the Supreme Court).

… I could not guarantee the same for 2021 ‘radical’ Republicans.

Columbus: “Oh boy, I can’t wait to enslave and work these people to death!”

Explanation: Switzerland was neutral during WW2. That, however, did not stop them from laundering (and then retaining) vast amounts of Nazi gold.

It is estimated that nearly 91 tonnes (100 short tons) of Nazi gold were laundered through Swiss banks, with only 3.6 tonnes (4 short tons) being returned at the end of the war.[25]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_gold