Sometimes Boston Legal really makes their point well and in the season ender when Allan is told he is representing traitors he responds that the country was started by traitors! I Love it!
Denny’s defense of America was just as telling as Allen’s arguments about how far from the ideals of the Declaration of Independence this country has traveled. He freely admits to all the horrendous things America is doing and defends them by giving examples of how we have ALWAYS done these things.
In reality we started screwing up immediately after the Declaration when we approved a constitution that allowed slavery, didn’t acknowledge women, and used phases like “all men are created equal” knowing full well that it was not referring to black, red or yellow men and did not include women at all. They had no idea that in the future, generations of Americans would be born that actually believed that referred them, them even if they were not white men! After all that power belonged solely to white men was a given at their time! These generation for the most part have no idea our great country was not only started by traitors to the British Crown but on lands acquired through Genocide of the 500 Nations already here. History gets presented in a favorable way for those who even learn any history at all.
Allan made great closing arguments with only one mistake, calling us a democracy, with all the historical references in the show the writers should have known not to use that term since we were never a democracy, by its original definition, but a Representative Republic. Now the definitions have all conveniently been changed to make a democracy and Representative Republic and a few other forms of government “democracies” So that we can spread democracy around the world by force if necessary!
Here are some old definitions from 1928
These succinct definitions of what is Democracy and what is a Republic was produced by the US Army in 1928, These definitions have been quietly withdrawn since, soon after.
Democracy:
A government of the masses.
Authority derived through mass meeting or any other form of “direct” expression.
Results in mobocracy.
Attitude toward property is comunistic-negating property rights.
Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate. whether it be based upon deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences.
Results in demagogism license, agitation, discontent, anarchy.
Democracy is the “direct” rule of the people and has been repeatedly tried without success.
A certain Professor Alexander Fraser Tytler, nearly two centuries ago, had this to say about Democracy: ” A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of Government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largess out of public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that Democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by a Dictatorship.”
A democracy is majority rule and is destructive of liberty because there is no law to prevent the majority from trampling on individual rights. Whatever the majority says goes! A lynch mob is an example of pure democracy in action. There is only one dissenting vote, and that is cast by the person at the end of the rope.
Republic:
Authority is derived through the election by the people of public officials best fitted to represent them.
Attitude toward property is respect for laws and individual rights, and a sensible economic procedure.
Attitude toward law is the administration of justice in accord with fixed principles and established evidence, with a strict regard to consequences.
A greater number of citizens and extent of territory may be brought within its compass.
Avoids the dangerous extreme of either tyranny or mobocracy. Results in statesmanship, liberty, reason, justice, contentment, and progress.
Is the “standard form” of government throughout the world.
A republic is a form of government under a constitution which provides for the election of:
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an executive and
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a legislative body, who working together in a representative capacity, have all the power of appointment, all power of legislation all power to raise revenue and appropriate expenditures, and are required to create
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a judiciary to pass upon the justice and legality of their governmental acts and to recognize
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certain inherent individual rights.
Take away any one or more of those four elements and you are drifting into autocracy. Add one or more to those four elements and you are drifting into democracy.
Our Constitutional fathers, familiar with the strength and weakness of both autocracy and democracy, with fixed principles definitely in mind, defined a representative republican form of government. They “made a very marked distinction between a republic and a democracy and said repeatedly and emphatically that they had founded a republic.”
A republic is a government of law under a Constitution. The Constitution holds the government in check and prevents the majority (acting through their government) from violating the rights of the individual. Under this system of government a lynch mob is illegal. The suspected criminal cannot be denied his right to a fair trial even if a majority of the citizenry demands otherwise.
_____________________________________________
Difference between Democracy and Republic, in brief:
Democracy:
a: government by the people; especially : rule of the majority.
b: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.
Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate, whether it be based upon deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences
Republic
a: a government having a chief of state who is not a monarch and who in modern times is usually a president : a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government.
b: a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law.
______________________________________________
Democracy and Republic are often taken as one of the same thing, but there is a fundamental difference. Whilst in both cases the government is elected by the people, in Democracy the majority rules according to their whims, whilst in the Republic the Government rule according to law. This law is framed in the Constitution to limit the power of Government and ensuring some rights and protection to Minorities and individuals.
The difference between Republic and Righteous Republic is that in the Republic the Government rules according to the law set up by men, in the Righteous Republic the law is the Law of God. Only in the Righteous Republic it can truly be said “One nation under God” for it is governed under commandments of the only One True God and there is no pluralism of religions.
Autocracy declares the divine right of kings; its authority can not be questioned; its powers are arbitrarily or unjustly administered.
Truth be know we are no longer a Democracy or a Representative Republic but in fact a Fascist State!
In “Fascism Anyone?” Laurence Britt, identifies 14 characteristics
common in fascist regimes. His comparisons of Hitler, Mussolini,
Suharto, Pinochet, and Franco yielded these 14 common traits.
They are listed below
1) Powerful and continuing nationalism
Fascist regimes tend to make use of patriotic
mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other
paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere as
are patriotic symbols on clothing, public displays,
and cars.
2) Disdain for the recognition of human
rights
Because of the fear of enemies and the need
for security, the people in fascist regimes are
persuaded that human rights and civil liberties
can be ignored in certain cases because of
“need”. The people tend to look the other
way or even approve of torture, summary
executions, long incarcerations of prisoners
without trial, etc.
3) Identification of enemies/scapegoats
as a unifying cause
The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic
frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived
a common threat or foe: ethnic or religious
minorities, liberals, communists, terrorists,
etc.
4) Supremacy of the military
Even when there are widespread domestic problems,
the military is given a disproportionate
amount of government funding, and the domestic
agenda is neglected.
5) Rampant sexism
The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost
exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist
regimes, traditional gender roles are made more
rigid. Opposition to abortion is high as is homophobia,
and anti-gay legislation as national policy.
6) Controlled mass media
Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the
government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly
controlled by government regulation, or
sympathetic media spokespeople and executives.
Censorship, especially in war time, is common.
7) Obsession with national security
Fear is used as a motivational tool over the
masses.
Religion and government are intertwined
Governments in fascist regimes tend to use the
most common religion in the nation as a tool to
manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and
terminology is common from government leaders,
even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically
opposed to the government’s policies
and actions.
9) Corporate power is protected
The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist
nation often are the ones who put the government
leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial
business/government relationship for the power
elite.
10) Labor power is suppressed
Because the organizing power of labor is the
only real threat to a fascist government. Labor
unions are either eliminated entirely or
are severely suppressed
11) Disdain for intellectuals and the arts
Fascist regimes tend to promote and tolerate
hostility to higher education and academia. It
is not uncommon for professors and other
academics to be censored or even arrested.
Free expression in the arts is openly attacked,
and governments often refuse to fund the
arts.
12) Obsession with crime and punishment
Under fascist regimes, the police are given
almost limitless power to enforce laws. The
people are often willing to overlook police
abuses and even forego civil liberties in the
name of patriotism. There is often a national
police force with virtually unlimited power in
fascist nations.
13) Rampant cronyism and corruption
Fascist regimes almost always are governed
by groups of friends and associates who appoint
each other to government positions
and use governmental power and authority to
protect their friends from accountability. It is
not uncommon in fascist regimes for national
resources and even treasures, to be appropriated
or even outright stolen by government
leaders.
14) Fraudulent elections
Sometimes elections in fascist regimes are a
complete sham. Other times elections are
manipulated by smear campaigns or even assassination
of opposition candidates, use of
legislation to control voting numbers or political
district boundaries, and the manipulation
of the media. Fascist nations also tend to
use their judiciaries to manipulate or control
elections.
I just love it when he comes back, Tuk Watkins does comedy better than anyone on the soaps. Him working in Texas with the pie obsessed… hilarious
