12-16-2021, 01:59 PM
(12-16-2021, 11:02 AM)Anthony Wrote: Ominously, the John Birch Society often used the slogan "America is a republic - not a democracy," at least tacitly implying a preference for Republicans over Democrats, even though they had some issues with Republicans too, especially on foreign affairs (pre-Reagan anyway).
The UK is a democracy and definitely not a republic. Spain is a democracy and not a republic. Some other democracies still have figurehead monarchs.
A "republic" now simply means no pretense of a crowned head. Needless to say, a republic under the command of a single-Party system complete with Gulags is no democracy. A republic under the command of a Pinochet-like generalissimo is no democracy. A republic under the command of an intolerant, domineering theocratic clique is no democracy.
If I must swear fealty to the King of Spain to escape a fascist dictatorship in America I will do so.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.