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Aeroplane before the Wright Bros? (pg. 2)
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View this Thread in Original format
| stren |
| quote: | Originally posted by Marcus Summers
American Inventions:
Democracy
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ever heard of ancient Greece ? |
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| itsamemario |
| quote: | Originally posted by stren
ever heard of ancient Greece ? |
American democracy is based on French, not greek, democracy.
But that's kinda besides the point, I think, most of the items on that list was invented outside of the USA. Ive got a feeling his comment was tongue-in-cheek. |
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| stren |
| quote: | Originally posted by itsamemario
Ive got a feeling his comment was tongue-in-cheek. |
another thing invented outside America :p |
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| Psyshell |
| Unlike most people I wasn't disappointed by this thread. I always expect in threads on TA and this one delivered. |
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| Vector A |
| quote: | Originally posted by itsamemario
American democracy is based on French, not greek, democracy. |
Huh?
1. France was not a democracy when the U.S. constitution was written.
2. English philosophers had much more to do with the ideas in it than French ones did.
3. When the French revolution did happen, American opinions on it at the time were decidedly mixed, not necessarily all that supportive.
[Edit: but I'm not saying the U.S. invented democracy or anything, lol.] |
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| itsamemario |
Haha yeah. What I meant to say was that us democracy, which is a mixed government at best, draws more from the feudal oligarchy of Sparta, than of the Greek ideas of democracy, as did the French constitution.
Oh and I was totally thinking Rousseau was french, not swiss :P |
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| Psyshell |
| The American early "democracy" was far more plutocratic than the French revolution was. It's all very nice to have a rose tinted view of the founding fathers but they did rail on about stuff like how bad it is for the poor to have any control over government etc. |
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| Vector A |
| quote: | Originally posted by Psyshell
The American early "democracy" was far more plutocratic than the French revolution was. It's all very nice to have a rose tinted view of the founding fathers but they did rail on about stuff like how bad it is for the poor to have any control over government etc. |
I kind of doubt most people here have a rose colored view of the founding fathers. They did own slaves after all, and the ones who didn't were mostly fine with keeping slavery around.
Anyway, if we're going to have universal suffrage as a criterion for democracy, then we don't see any large scale democracies until the twentieth century, lol. |
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| Lira |
| Ben Franklin was an awesome man: Half Natural Philosopher, Half Bill Clinton. |
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| billymadision |
| I am kinda wondering the scope of the North Carolina license plate, which boldly states "First in Flight". While that may be true, this Gustave Whitehead character did his test flights in America, though has not been credited for his successes, supposedly. |
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| billymadision |
| quote: | Originally posted by Psyshell
Unlike most people I wasn't disappointed by this thread. I always expect in threads on TA and this one delivered. |
Glad somebody appreciates my work. Making gifs can be difficult. |
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| itsamemario |
| quote: | Originally posted by Psyshell
The American early "democracy" was far more plutocratic than the French revolution was. It's all very nice to have a rose tinted view of the founding fathers but they did rail on about stuff like how bad it is for the poor to have any control over government etc. |
I thought that was the point I was trying to make. :conf: |
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