Do All Forms of Government...

[Shuckins]

...whether democratic, socialistic or communistic, have a natural tendency over time to become despotic?

The Founding Fathers of the United States seemed to think so, although many of their ideas would be laughed out of modern academic circles.  When it came to trusting the benevolence of any form of government they were unrepentent cynics.  

That seems to be the main reason they supported the establishment of armed state militias with that embarassing second amendment.

Your thoughts.

[oboe]

Could be, but consider also this was a young, poor nation.   Rainsing and keeping a large standing army and navy may have been prohibitively expensive?

[Shuckins]

Good point Oboe.  Actually, they believed that the militias served a dual purpose, a volunteer force which could be rapidly called up to counter invasion, and as a protection against the rise of despotic government.

[patrone]

Originally posted by Shuckins
...whether democratic, socialistic or communistic, have a natural tendency over time to become despotic?
 

Get a grip man, whats the diffrence between a democratic or socialistic, communistic goverment?

Please use other words, there is/been a lot of states with socialistic , even communistic goverments, that are democratic.

Democratic, socialistic, communistic?

The opposite to democracy is dictatorship.


However, your (USA) second admendment are a great "security" to your version of "democracy".

[Boroda]

Any form of "government" or "state" is only a way of supressing the personality. The more I live, the more I understand that Lenin was right with this definition.

[Shuckins]

Patrone, most political historians recognize that democratic, socialistic, and communistic governments have different characteristics.  Despite these differences, the Founding Fathers maintained that all forms of government would have a tendency to become despotic, given the passage of enough time.

That's why there were so many "safeguards" written into the U.S. Constitution, such as separation of powers and checks and balances, among others.

[john9001]

shuckins is right , there is a natural tendency for all governments over time assume more and more power and control over the people.
 The US constutition was written to prevent this , but over the years loopholes were found , such as the "interstate commerance clause" that allowed the federal govt to gain more control.

[lasersailor184]

The US is the only country I know of that is the bain of Despotism.

That's because the power rests in the hands of the people, not the government.  The Declaration of Independence and the Second Ammendment insure this.

[Shuckins]

That is perhaps the greatest danger to stem from embracing the "loose-interpretation" of the Constitution ideology so favored by some political circles in the U.S.  This allows the government to decide that the meaning of the law is whatever the government wants it to be.

[lasersailor184]

No, the people decide what the constitution means.  Our guns prove this.

[JB88]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
The US is the only country I know of that is the bain of Despotism.

That's because the power rests in the hands of the people, not the government.  The Declaration of Independence and the Second Ammendment insure this.

the declaration of independence insures nothing.  it is a declaration not a set of laws.

[JB88]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
No, the people decide what the constitution means.  Our guns prove this.

um.  how do the guns prove this?

[oboe]

Couldn't the US be more accurately described as a "corporatocracy" or "plutocracy"?

I looked up the definitions and they seem to fit pretty well with whats been going on the last few decades.

[JB88]

Originally posted by oboe
Couldn't the US be more accurately described as a "corporatocracy" or "plutocracy"?

I looked up the definitions and they seem to fit pretty well with whats been going on the last few decades.

can you imagine the cost of changing all of the textbooks?

[lasersailor184]

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Weapons, being the tools of revolution, are guarenteed to us by the top two articles of law in the US constitution.