Here is the article from Politico.
The seventh paragraph of this article reads: “I don’t know if in the coming years people will be looking at the United States as a model for democracy,” a second Arab diplomat warned.
Why would people around the world look to the US as a model of democracy in the first place?
As Richard Winger stated in his 2016 reason.com interview: “A multiparty system is normal. You only have a two party system if there is repression. It’s not natural.”
And then you have the overly stringent ballot access laws, which at least candidates in Canada and the United Kingdom, which also don’t have proportional representation, don’t have to face.
Ideally, there should be a system whereby it’s relatively easy for new parties to form and run candidates, and for independent candidates to run outside of the party system.
Prior to the state ballot system, relative equality prevailed: candidates of new parties, and independent candidates simply printed their own ballots, and distributed them at the polling places.
Modern technology now makes it possible for parties and voters to print out their own ballots, which could contain the parties and candidates recognized by the state election authorities, by whatever criteria, with sufficient blank spaces for other parties and candidates to print in the names of their own candidates.
Foreign diplomats aren’t “the world,” and the US was never meant to be a democracy. I suppose I should add that politico is fake news.
Also, Arab diplomat? From which nation? There are a range of Arab government, generally quite dictatorial. One of the sheikdoms? The Saudi kingdom? Syria? Egypt? Your country should seek advice on its elections from representatives of those governments? Really?
Walter Ziobro, why print ballots at all, rather than have voters stand up and be counted?
I read the propaganda piece. Top notch propaganda. The anonymous globalist elitists are not concerned with an open and fair voting process, as one might conclude based on the summary here.
They’re bothered that the voting process in your country, such as it is, sometimes leads to outcomes that slow down the globalization plans of the global elitists.
“How dare Americans have concerns over the integrity of their own borders? What gives you lot the gall not to immediately transfer the entire amount requested by the Ukrainian National Socialist Luciferian crime syndicate and their hired narcomaniac actor spokesman Zelenski?”
That sort of thing. They’re not worried about your lack of “democracy,” they’re worried that your elite institutions are doing an imperfect job of manipulating the herd into rubber stamping their globalist plans.
“Walter Ziobro, why print ballots at all, rather than have voters stand up and be counted?”
Ballots make recording, counting, and challenging votes considerably easier and more rational.
Nonsense. Video of the voters being counted off is the most verifiable system. Voters can see right then and there at the time of the vote that they are counted correctly, in real time. Should there ever be a challenge or question, video record can prove they were counted correctly.
If you have multiprecinct elections, which ultimately I hope cease, but so long as you do: the tallying problems are the same, regardless of how the vote is taken within any given precinct.
Who cares what commie countries think?
Ballots introduce the issue of whether those counting substituted a ballot cast by a voter for one they brought in their pocket, among various ways of cheating the vote. Counting off voters and recording the proceedings ensures 0% chance that any voter was not correctly counted.
Bill, yes there is political suppression in the US. But others around the world might look up to us for our right to political speech, our low levels of political prisoners, our voting rights, our separate branches of government, our federalism, and state initiatives/referendums/recalls, among other things.
“…As they vented their frustrations, I felt as if I was hearing from a group of people wishing they could stage an intervention for a friend hitting rock bottom…”
Hey US, let’s talk about staging interventions!
The idiocy of this transparent propaganda story continues to confound: how many of the people here who actually read it don’t see the obvious gaping holes and giant screaming red flags?
Do you all really fall for nonsense this obvious? I mean, I would have even been embarrassed at this level of obviousness when I had to write Soviet propaganda as a young man.
@Max
I didn’t like the Politico article. I was making a joke out of one line.
Bill took one line seriously, but pulled it out of context. However, that was his point, so it’s OK.
Give it a read and tell me if it’s not as hamhandedly obvious to you as it is to me. In the meantime, my query is addressed to others who did in fact read it. I don’t know what Mr. Redpath thinks, but he only posts articles, not comments, so I can’t ask him.
HOW MANY OFFICES / CANDIDATES ON AVERAGE NOV EVEN YEAR BALLOTS ???
PREZ EVEN YEAR / NON PREZ EVEN YEAR
—
PR
APPV
TOTSOP
“We are the world, in this room” said a pudgy eurotrash aristocrat/diplomat with a ruddy complexion as he stuffed himself with foie gras and guzzled Cristal champagne. “We speak for everyone, and our preferences are called democracy.”
An Arab sheik’s son, currently exiled to the diplomatic corps in Europe as punishment for defiling his father’s favorite camel, heartily agreed. “American democracy sometimes produces results we don’t like. What kind of democracy is that?!”
A South American former Marxist guerrilla lieutenant and assistant torturer who now serves as an embassy attache and cocaine smuggler was more direct: “look, if these crackers in Georgia vote for Trump in 2024, what you need to do is dig up General Sherman, clone him, and teach them another lesson about bowing down to the will of the Empire!”
A short, beady eyed African diplomat, scion of a large confidence scheme ring leader, nodded thoughtfully, “real democracy is all about making the plebeian rubes believe with all their heart that they freely chose the exact policy preferences of their elite globalist masters, along the lines of the Delphi technique.”
An elderly Polish diplomat who spent most of his life as a high school principal recalled fondly his favorite part of the job, bending the schoolgirls over his lap and spanking them on their bare bottoms. “That’s how you teach the voters a lesson, you see. When they don’t send money to Ukraine, you bend them over and give them a sound thrashing. If they start talking about defending their own borders, you set down the paddle and make them count to their age with the rattan cane.”
Pig Farmer,
Exactly. If anything, even worse.
“The problem with American democracy,” explained a kindly East Asian diplomat, “is that it exists, to some extent.”
I don’t think you will ever have democracy until you break up the two party tyranny and replace with a proportional representative system.
FRAUD ***DEMOCRACY*** IN USA –
REALITY — EVIL/VICIOUS MINORITY RULE GERRYMANDER REGIMES IN USA
1/2 OR LESS VOTES X 1/2 RIGGED G AREAS = 1/4 OR LESS CONTROL
SUPER-WORSE EXTREMIST CAUCUSES / PRIMARIES / CONVENTIONS
0.666 IQ MEDIA / WORSE COURTS / WORSE BAN TROLL MORONS
—
PR
APPV
TOTSOP
A Canadian waiter at the diplomat club, studying at Georgetown University with a career as a diplomat in mind, agreed with the diplomats.
“Democracy, eh? Well, that’s when you have leaders like Trudeau who smash up truckers protests. Politicians prefer disarmed peasants, so in a real democracy, such as Canada, the peasants are disarmed. And you also have to ban the expression of certain dangerous opinions, and jail people who talk aboot those things.”
A Mexican diplomat and reputed high level cartel member had a few thoughts “Suck it, puta. If your country was a democracy you would knock down that pinche wall, welcome all the Chicanos into your country, and let us take your jobs, your daughters, and vote in your election. Si, that’s it, keep sucking!”
A third Arab diplomat said “the Arab world should definitely be lecturing the United States about democracy. We’re considering dropping our alliances with the US and going with Russia and China. The most democratic way to vote is with your money, so tell us much you can send us and we’ll get back to you. Don’t forget, you have competition for our allegiance.”
A visibly intoxicated diplomat from New Zealand said something which we think amounted to “real democracies locked everything down for the better part of a year by executive order because of a positive covid test or two. The US is hardly a real democracy!”
Adam Cerini, my apologies, on second read, you did read the article, and like me didn’t like it.
I wasn’t originally trying to imply you liked it, as my statement was directed at all readers here, not you in particular.
As for intervention – I rather think the article author and her sources, anonymous and otherwise, are in much more dire need of an intervention than are the American voters and elected officials they are disparaging, particularly if they seriously believe or wish others to believe they speak for “the world.”
White Men Can Trump, Jelly B. Afro, Banana Republican, and Covid 24 – yes, exactly.
Notably, they didn’t ask Russian diplomats for comment. As a former Soviet diplomatic attache, I’d make myself available for a short quote in order to have a wider sampling of global opinion, although I get the distinct impression that only one side’s opinion was sought or welcomed.
In a real democracy, there is only one side. The other side is against democracy.
Exactly.