"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Martin Hotze" wrote in message
...

If it were not for the
electoral college the U.S. would be governed by the residents of large
cities and the rural population (who tend to be more conservative) would
have no say in the law-making process.


that's dictatorship of the majority.


Democracy is a dictatorship by the majority.


Well, no, it isn't supposed to be, because in order to work, a part of the
definition of democracy says:
"the representatives that hold the decision power are moderated by a
constitution that emphasizes protecting individual liberties and the rights
of minorities in society, such as freedom of speech and assembly, freedom of
religion, the right to private property and privacy, as well as equality
before the law and due process under the rule of law, and many more."
:unquote.

This was called "liberal democracy"... The USA is listed as having a
"somewhat" liberal democracy ... maybe it is becoming out of fashion, but I
digress.


An interesting perspective on post-vote democracy comes from
http://democracy2.blogspot.com/
titled "A Tip to the Politically Defeated: Democracy Doesn't End on Election
Day"

Even if you don't wade through the whole thing, the following paragraphs are
interesting:

quote:
Going from local political activity to the global, we are now also
witnessing the growth of a movement some are calling the Second Superpower.
No matter what you think of America's superpower position, there's no
question that many in the world see American hegemony as, at best, a
point-of-view that requires some counteracting or rebuttal, or at worst, a
cancer that requires strong opposition. This new global public power base,
as it were, may hope to achieve what no other nation in the world could
imagine achieving—that is, providing the same degree of political
counterbalance that was “enjoyed” during the Cold War. For better or worse,
anti-U.S. political power is growing, and this power will indeed be exerted
against any U.S. policies deemed to be too extreme.

World citizens didn't vote in the 2004 U.S. election, but don't think for a
minute that this prevents them from influencing U.S. politics in a major
way. Denouncing this new “outside influence” will do nothing to diminish it

:unquote.