Re:Things Most Americans Don’t Know About America
by rmc on Saturday July 13, 2013 @02:26PM
(#6038234)
AFAIK, England's parliament, prior to the US, could not remotely be described as a democracy. Indeed, it was well over a hundred years later that this would be the case.
How? When the USA got independence it basically copied the UK voting/parliament system, only allowing white men who owned property to voting, just like UK.
Of course, it depends on definition of "democracy". But I can't see how you can have a definition that would hold the following things all true: "(a) The UK is a democracy in 2013 (b) The USA was a democracy in 1776 (c) The UK was not a democracy in 1776 (d) The UK was not a democracy for ~100 years after 1776"
(I use the term UK, but don't think it was called that in 1776)
How? When the USA got independence it basically copied the UK voting/parliament system, only allowing white men who owned property to voting, just like UK.
Of course, it depends on definition of "democracy". But I can't see how you can have a definition that would hold the following things all true: "(a) The UK is a democracy in 2013 (b) The USA was a democracy in 1776 (c) The UK was not a democracy in 1776 (d) The UK was not a democracy for ~100 years after 1776"
(I use the term UK, but don't think it was called that in 1776)