Is a America a real democracy?

Hey guys, I just finished watching a movie called sicko. It shows the health care in the USA and to say the least I am shocked. I knew before the movie that the health care is not free in america but i was shocked what the richest country in the world does to people who cannot afford it. I would recommend you watch the whole movie and here is a little trailer showing the movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlDAUKSh9CQ

I currently live in England and here there is a free health care for people, free education and many other things that the country provides for their people. I go to college here in england, i don't have to buy anything, I can get free bus pass and free lunch if I cannot afford it. I also get paid by the goverment £30 a week thats about $45 a week to go to college. If I get sick i get free health care and this means I don't have to pay for any medicine or anything and if you work and you get sick you can take weeks of and get paid fully.

Anyway you guys, especially americans need to watch this movie to see how other goverments in europe work and how they actualy care for poor people. In USA they trow you out of the hospital if you are not insured. Man the richest country in the world let people die because they don't have health insurance. I really don't see what americans are so proud of their country, I would personally be ashamed.

Anyway I don't wanna sound like some kinf of anti-american person which I am not but really what are americans so proud of? By the looks of it here in most european countries democracy is leaps and bounds better.

its a republic...pure democracy could never work in a modern society...it would be a mess and nothing would ever get done(bad enough as is).

btw:

Your education and healthcare are only "free" if you don't pay taxes.

Hey guys, I just finished watching a movie called sicko. It shows the health care in the USA and to say the least I am shocked. I knew before the movie that the health care is not free in america but i was shocked what the richest country in the world does to people who cannot afford it. I would recommend you watch the whole movie and here is a little trailer showing the movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlDAUKSh9CQ

I currently live in England and here there is a free health care for people, free education and many other things that the country provides for their people. I go to college here in england, i don't have to buy anything, I can get free bus pass and free lunch if I cannot afford it. I also get paid by the goverment £30 a week thats about $45 a week to go to college. If I get sick i get free health care and this means I don't have to pay for any medicine or anything and if you work and you get sick you can take weeks of and get paid fully.

Anyway you guys, especially americans need to watch this movie to see how other goverments in europe work and how they actualy care for poor people. In USA they trow you out of the hospital if you are not insured. Man the richest country in the world let people die because they don't have health insurance. I really don't see what americans are so proud of their country, I would personally be ashamed.

Anyway I don't wanna sound like some kinf of anti-american person which I am not but really what are americans so proud of? By the looks of it here in most european countries democracy is leaps and bounds better.

Mitjastiskovski

ya its in pretty sad shape. For some reason a lot of Americans are convinced that free, good health care is a bad idea and that you have to earn it from your country and that if you dont have it, well, its your fault. And here I was thinking one's government is supposed to serve the people...

Anyway, take that movie with a grain of salt. Its is a Mike Moore film iirc and he is a liberal, a badultraliberal (as opposed to your more typical good semiliberal). He is rude, exagerates things, and in general does it for attention. While there is truth in his work to some degree, the things he says is by no means typical of what really goes on.

If you liked Sicko you should check out Bowling for Columbine. Really good film.

Oh my, this thread is going to be filled with the "it's not a democracy, it's a republic" BS.jointed

Be careful with Michael Moore's films-- he's got an agenda and he's going to spin everything in that way. That said, the United States of America is a democracy only in the buzzword sense. If it was really a democracy, then the people would vote on everything. We vote for people to represent us in different levels of government, ergo we are a republic.MAILER_DAEMON

Thats very true about Moore. The second bit is also true because there's no way a nation as large as the U.S. could be a direct democracy because there would be way too much to vote on which is why we elect representatives that have similar views.

[QUOTE="jointed"]Oh my, this thread is going to be filled with the "it's not a democracy, it's a republic" BS.-Sun_Tzu-

Well as far as i know democracy means everyone can voice their opinion and everyone has the same right. In my book this also means if you are sick you deserve the same health care than another person that has got money. Anyways the guys who says that the movie is BS, it's not I live in england and everything that was shown in the movie happens here.

Here is another good video of the same movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2sFT7T0mCs

It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure deformity.

[QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"][QUOTE="jointed"]Oh my, this thread is going to be filled with the "it's not a democracy, it's a republic" BS.jointed

And for those of us who are healthy (Like me), we dont need to go to the doctor much, so I'm not paying for it.GTA_dude

[QUOTE="jointed"][QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"] And how exactly is it BS?-Sun_Tzu-

Well as far as i know democracy means everyone can voice their opinion and everyone has the same right. In my book this also means if you are sick you deserve the same health care than another person that has got money. Anyways the guys who says that the movie is BS, it's not I live in england and everything that was shown in the movie happens here.

Here is another good video of the same movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2sFT7T0mCs

Mitjastiskovski

[QUOTE="jointed"]Oh my, this thread is going to be filled with the "it's not a democracy, it's a republic" BS.Xeros606

[QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"][QUOTE="jointed"] Because it can be both. It's like saying "That apple isn't green, it's round!" America is a representative democracy.jointed

[QUOTE="jointed"][QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"] The statement "it's not a democracy, it's a republic" is not BS though. A representative democracy will always be a republic, but a democracy will not always be a republic by default. Now the statement "it's not a representative democracy, it's a republic" is like saying "that apple isn't green, it's round" and could be considered BS.-Sun_Tzu-

Take note of the British NHS, while it offers free healthcare to every citizen it is overall a terrible service....and worst of all includes lots of months of waiting time.lucky326

I think he was trying to say that America shows itself as being this country that is full of freedom and the reality is that people, socially or economically, get trampled, and that's fine because selfish others don't want to pay a few extra bucks a year for taxes, but happily spend it waging wars with other nations. When's the last time a war waged by America directly helped you? Have you used every road, water and sewer system? Every school, univeristy or hospital? (Or whatever taxes pay for) No, so, effectiverly, you are paying for things you don't use.

And democracy=republic? Someone's smoking something.

[QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"][QUOTE="jointed"]Oh my, this thread is going to be filled with the "it's not a democracy, it's a republic" BS.jointed

Its not both though. We are a federalized, constitutional republic not a democracy. And @ the OP. The government of England may give you all those wonderful things but you pay taxes on screen doors, closets and extra TV sets so it's really not free is it?

[QUOTE="jointed"][QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"] And how exactly is it BS?Frattracide

Its not both though. We are a federalized, constitutional republic not a democracy. And @ the OP. The government of England may give you all those wonderful things but you pay taxes on screen doors, closets and extra TV sets so it's really not free is it?

[QUOTE="Frattracide"]

[QUOTE="jointed"] Because it can be both. It's like saying "That apple isn't green, it's round!" America is a representative democracy.jointed

Its not both though. We are a federalized, constitutional republic not a democracy. And @ the OP. The government of England may give you all those wonderful things but you pay taxes on screen doors, closets and extra TV sets so it's really not free is it?

Why?

[QUOTE="jointed"][QUOTE="Frattracide"]

Its not both though. We are a federalized, constitutional republic not a democracy. And @ the OP. The government of England may give you all those wonderful things but you pay taxes on screen doors, closets and extra TV sets so it's really not free is it?

Frattracide

Why?

Because the people rule through representatives.

[QUOTE="Frattracide"]

[QUOTE="jointed"] Because it can be both. It's like saying "That apple isn't green, it's round!" America is a representative democracy.jointed

Its not both though. We are a federalized, constitutional republic not a democracy. And @ the OP. The government of England may give you all those wonderful things but you pay taxes on screen doors, closets and extra TV sets so it's really not free is it?

Because the people rule through representatives.jointed

[QUOTE="Frattracide"][QUOTE="jointed"] A constitutional republic IS a democracy.jointed

Why?

Because the people rule through representatives.

Which is the definition of a republic.

[QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"][QUOTE="jointed"] ...ehm no, a representative democracy will not always be a republic.jointed

[QUOTE="jointed"]I'm not very fond of arguing with people who don't really know much about the subject at hand but what the heck. A republic is a nation state in which the people have an influence on the government and is not led by a monarch. "Democracy" is used to describe systems in which the people hold a significant amount of power, there are different forms of democracies, representative democracies are one of these forms. The USA is allegedly a representative democracy.Vandalvideo

[QUOTE="jointed"] That's not what I'm arguing. I'm arguing the fact that people claim that America isn't a democracy but simultaneously claim that it's a republic.Vandalvideo

[QUOTE="Vandalvideo"][QUOTE="jointed"] That's not what I'm arguing. I'm arguing the fact that people claim that America isn't a democracy but simultaneously claim that it's a republic.jointed