"One can only defend democracy by totalitarian methods"
RESTRICT ACT up next
By KATHLEEN MCCOOK APR 14, 2023
Airman Jack Teixeira has been arrested for leaking confidential intelligence and defense documents on a gaming chat server.1
The cacophony of news reports seems to be focused on Teixeira rather than the content of the items leaked. Immediately I read and heard that what was leaked may have been muddled and releaked and changed. This deflects the public’s attention.
Ironically George Orwell commented back when England was pro-Russian.2
One of the peculiar phenomena of our time is the renegade Liberal. Over and above the familiar Marxist claim that ‘bourgeois liberty’ is an illusion, there is now a widespread tendency to argue that one can only defend democracy by totalitarian methods. If one loves democracy, the argument runs, one must crush its enemies by no matter what means. And who are its enemies? It always appears that they are not only those who attack it openly and consciously, but those who ‘objectively’ endanger it by spreading mistaken doctrines. In other words, defending democracy involves destroying all independence of thought.
RESTRICT ACT Keep an eye on the RESTRICT Act wending its way through Congress. (RESTRICT is a lovely little acronym for Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act of 2023). It’s not just all about Tik-Tok.3
1 Jack Teixeira: US airman appears in court over Pentagon documents leak. BBC News. 4/14/2023.
2 George Orwell, The Freedom of the Press (Orwell's Proposed Preface to ‘Animal Farm’)
3 Joseph Cox, (March 29, 2023). “The 'Insanely Broad' RESTRICT Act Could Ban Much More Than Just TikTok.” Motherboard.
https://kathleenmccook.substack.com/p/one-can-only-defend-democracy-by
You are mixing up voting with democracy.
NPR agrees with you: https://www.npr.org/2022/09/10/1122089076/is-america-a-democracy-or-a-republic-yes-it-is
The Heritage Foundation doesn't: https://www.heritage.org/american-founders/report/america-republic-not-democracy
Dude, it doesn't matter what site you link, and it doesn't matter whether NPR agrees, disagrees or catches fire.
We are a representational democracy, that is an objective fact. Voting to both affect and effect change is democracy. The distinction is between voting through representatives (Republican form of democracy) or voting directly (mob rule direct form of democracy).
This isn't an arguable fact. It is historically established over centuries, longer if we go back to older civilizations.
The founding fathers viewed direct democracy as a risk, so they established a Constitution and a Republican form of democratic government in order to maintain some semblance of fairness between states.
We still have direct democracy by the state too, for things like governor's races. Why is that?
Because at our core, we are a democracy. Because you vote, so that others may vote in your stead.
It says we're not a "pure democracy". And they're right. We're not a pure democracy. We're a representative democracy.
A pure democracy, we all would vote on every single issue. But we vote for representatives to make laws and such. We also have a Constitution that supports the framework of laws.
Also, I gave you a link to a government site, which is tasked to explain basic concepts of government. They said the US is a representative democracy.