If yes, can you still have democracy with a government with absolute power?
2006-09-07 17:34:10 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Government
Warrant less wire tapping in the US is absolute power. It is about absolute power not "I am doing nothing wrong"
2006-09-07 17:40:23 · update #1
I'm uncomfortable with the amount of power Congress and the President already have. Public opinion matters less and less as corporations, special interest groups, and wealthy families grow in political strength. Witness the war in Iraq and the Patriot Act. The majority of Americans were against both, yet both have come to pass. Billions of dollars every month are being siphoned from this country in the name of "the war on terror." Yet terrorists continue to grow, and Iraq is promising to be the New Vietnam.
We supported, by overwhelming numbers, the war in Afghanistan. Our political leaders felt this was license to stage war in one of their "axis of evil" countries. It defies logic, when one considers that the majority of known terrorists came from Saudi Arabia -- yet we call them an "ally" -- and Pakistan has nuclear weapons -- and is a second home to the Taliban. In the news recently, unnoticed and uncommented upon by our spin doctors, was the deal Pakistan made with the Taliban. Basically, it was "we'll leave you alone if you don't make any trouble here." So great, they have another free base of operations.
So no, no way. Our political leaders are spin doctors of the nth degree, and too well schooled in propoganda and manipulation to ever be trusted with more power than that which the people could take away. (Of course, with voter fraud now documented in several states, our votes may soon be rendered meaningless as well....but that's another story).
2006-09-07 17:53:16 · answer #1 · answered by Cynanon 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Throughout history every Democracy has had to give up personal freedoms in times of crisis, to preserve the existence of the government. . And yes Radical Islam is a major threat to out existence.
"The law is made for the state, not the state for the law. If the circumstances are such that a choice must be made between the two, it is the law which must be sacrificed to the state, salus populi suprema lex esto"
Abraham Lincoln
Read "Constitutional Dictatorship" by Clinton Rossiter. He lays out why this has happened before and why it will happen again throughout any Democracy.
In the beginning of the civil war Abraham Lincoln suspend Habeas Corpus. That is a power that is only expressed to Congress in the Constitution. Lincoln disregarded the Constitution for what he saw was the good of the state.
http://www.csulb.edu/~crsmith/lincoln.html
2006-09-08 00:37:01 · answer #2 · answered by 3rd parties for REAL CHANGE 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Absolute power is in the hands of the Local Government, and if you could not handle it, you are in trouble.
All absolute is also in the hands of the Bureau, but in the mercy of the politicians. The President has the hands on this for approval, so counter checking the 'proposed' will have final result which is also absolute but with the participation of the Governing Bodies.
2006-09-08 00:42:37 · answer #3 · answered by wacky_racer 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Check points- The government has them
Secret Prisons- The government has them
Legal group above the law-The government has them (FEMA, NSA)
Ability to take away the constitution-The government has it. (During an state of emergency FEMA can suspend any constitutional rights)
Leader who acts above the law-The government has it.
I'm sorry people, the government is already mid NAZI rule and is only some odd number of bills away from absolute power.
2006-09-08 00:55:39 · answer #4 · answered by cat_Rett_98 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo to the giving of absolute power. That's like going pre- Magna Carta there whoa.
2006-09-08 00:35:24 · answer #5 · answered by Cass_17_7 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You can NEVER give absolute authority to ANY president or leader. They WILL abuse it.
We have a lot of control over this president. Unfortunatly, there are many who want to see this country fail just to get back at the President
2006-09-08 00:37:43 · answer #6 · answered by lancelot682005 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Those who give up freedom for security deserve neither. History shows us that those given "emergency" absolute power rarely relinquish it willingly.
2006-09-08 00:39:53 · answer #7 · answered by Schmorgen 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Under no circumstance!!! If I wanted to live under a dictatorship, there are lots of countries I could go to.
2006-09-08 00:40:08 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
It's called a dictatorship. How can you have democracy in a dictatorship??
2006-09-08 00:38:34 · answer #9 · answered by Pluck That Chicken 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
No, no way ! ! ! because not all presidents act in the behalf of all of it's people. Just there inner circle !!!
2006-09-08 00:38:43 · answer #10 · answered by wj30_98 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋