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Tony Blair (pg. 2)
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| JohnSmith |
?!?! do you seriously believe that the intention of an elected government is to give the PM carte blanche for the length of his term?
we may as well be living in a monarchy or dictatorship. I can understand the US, where support for the war is at least over 50%, but in Britain, support is WAY below half the population, I believe it's something like 13% without another UN resolution (which won't be happening now) I could be wrong, but the numbers are low, the protests are high, and key government officials are resigning in protest.
| quote: | | Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience ... Therefore [individual citizens] have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring - Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal, 1950 |
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| Eugene |
JohnSmith, you are very naive, if you believe that politics is as simple as the leader always following the "will of the people" (if such a thing even exists).
I suggest you broaden your horizons.
Have you ever wondered why, in the US, the President is elected not really by the people, but by the electoral college?
A very pertinent question for your research. When you find out, come back with an answer we'll continue our discussion. |
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| ferrycorstenfan |
| quote: | Originally posted by JohnSmith
Well.. I don't know if i'd say i have respect for Blair. He is after all taking a position that the overwhelming majority of citizens in his country don't agree with, not to mention his own cabinent. I severly doubt he will be re-elected, he has sacrificed his career on this issue.
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There is NO real opposition here, the Conservatives are stuck up gits and ppl hate them, The Lib Dems aren't big enough, Labour will prob win again imo |
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| DrUg_Tit0 |
As long as any government declares itself as a democracy, it is obligated to inform people on the situation and take no action that is against the will of the majority.
| quote: | | Have you ever wondered why, in the US, the President is elected not really by the people, but by the electoral college? |
Two reasons for it. First one is that it was a simpler way to go through the elections at the time when there were no telephones or fast intercity connections. Second one was to give the states which make up the US some sort of autonomy. That's why the US is officialy a federation and not a unitary country. |
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| JohnSmith |
| thanks drug_tito! |
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| JM |
| quote: | Originally posted by TranceGiant
I think I'm yet to respect a politician more than this fella (except Clinton maybe). |
Clinton? Respect? son, you must be confused.... even many Democrats lost respect for that wanker after his excellent *performance* regarding Ms. Monica
:o
>JM< |
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| Arbiter |
| 'Tis better to do what is right... than to do what is popular. Otherwise, you have nothing but mob rule, no? |
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| biznology |
| quote: | Originally posted by JM
Clinton? Respect? son, you must be confused.... even many Democrats lost respect for that wanker after his excellent *performance* regarding Ms. Monica
:o
>JM< |
oohhh god! Clinton had *sex* with someone!!?!? call the moral police!
and SHE was the one performing:toothless...how can you talk about that? i long for the days where problems like that were all that concerned US citizens. at least thousands of iraqis didnt have to die for that - hillary didnt even seem to care. thats why they call him slick willy. his only problem was trying to be too diplomatic|even if that included interns.... |
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| occrider |
| quote: | Originally posted by DrUg_Tit0
As long as any government declares itself as a democracy, it is obligated to inform people on the situation and take no action that is against the will of the majority.
Two reasons for it. First one is that it was a simpler way to go through the elections at the time when there were no telephones or fast intercity connections. Second one was to give the states which make up the US some sort of autonomy. That's why the US is officialy a federation and not a unitary country. |
So by your reasoning the United States should have never entered WW2, and should have never provided the lend-lease program to Britain? If you recall back to that time period, Roosevelt almost had to SWINDLE the American public into helping Britain. At that time America was very isolationist, was sick of entering "European conflicts" (aka WW1), and Roosevelt won a reelection by adamantely stating that America would NOT enter the war.
So again I ask you, should Roosevelt have been obligated to stay out of the war completely??? Another case was WW1 when Wilson was in office. AGAIN we see the same scenario where an American President acted against the majority of the nation. I don't hear very many complaints about those issues!
Lastly a government is NOT obligated to inform the people completely about a given situation. Especially when it pertains to matters of national security. Can you imagine the cold war turning out the way it did if the government was yapping about this that and everything??? The soviets would be completely aware of our intelligence gathering abilities not to mention the CIA would be put out of business in terms of agents. |
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| DrUg_Tit0 |
| Regardless of the effect, it was still done against the will of the majority. However, it was a good thing those actions were taken. I never said though, that true democracy is the best political system. |
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| occrider |
| quote: | Originally posted by DrUg_Tit0
Regardless of the effect, it was still done against the will of the majority. However, it was a good thing those actions were taken. I never said though, that true democracy is the best political system. |
Haha so on the one hand you're critisizing the US for failing to practice true democracy and then on the other hand you're critisizing true democracy as being a good political system. Why do I get the feeling I'm going around in circles? :crazy: |
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| DrUg_Tit0 |
| Democracy is a pretty good system compared to the other ones, but it's far from perfect. But if a country has declared itself as a democratic country, then it should behave in a democratic way. |
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