Venezuela's capital hit by explosions, smoke seen

Re:Venezuela's capital hit by explosions, smoke seen by rayiner on Sunday January 04, 2026 @07:48AM (#46487432)

What do you guys in Europe think “democracy” means? The current president ran on a platform of 20 all-CAPS sentences where the first point was “SEAL THE BORDER AND STOP THE MIGRANT INVASION.” https://www.donaldjtrump.com/platform. He then won the Presidential popular vote and his party won the Congressional popular vote by 4 million points.

If you have ever been to Florida, this is completely unsurprising. I’m currently at a Disney World resort which has a 3 acre heated pool: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/recreation/yacht-club-reso.... We probably needed to topple Venezuela just to keep it heated in January.

What do you think is not legitimately democratic about any of this?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Venezuela's capital hit by explosions, smoke seen by sbohacek on Sunday January 04, 2026 @09:33AM (#46488310)

Elections is only one characteristic of a democracy. Other characteristics include freedom of the press, freedom of speech, minority rights, rule of law, accountability and transparency, and separation of powers.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Venezuela's capital hit by explosions, smoke seen by Amezarak on Sunday January 04, 2026 @11:40AM (#46489611)

Nothing about democracy implies minority rights, the rule of law, or the separation of powers. Indeed these things are in greater or lesser degrees anti democratic.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Venezuela's capital hit by explosions, smoke seen by rayiner on Sunday January 04, 2026 @04:57PM (#46492709)

None of those things are characteristics of “democracy.” Many of those are exactly the opposite: they are anti-democratic checks on democratic government. They empower a privileged class of lawyers and judges to overrule majorities based on supposed “rights.”

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Venezuela's capital hit by explosions, smoke seen by munksbeer on Wednesday January 07, 2026 @03:45AM (#46524060)

You'd make an excellent politician, as you have a great way of using words in an emotive manner to win a point.

"privileged class" immediately plays on people's emotions, along the lines of "the people have spoken", meaning if you didn't vote the same way, you're not "the people". I lived through all this in the brexit vote, and your language is all very similar sounding.

Over the years, democracies around the world have evolved these kind of checks and balances. They are part of the system, not imposed on it by some "privileged class" for their own nefarious reasons.

[ Parent | on HN ]