Is America headed for dictatorship?

Question

If it isn't already. Many people stated that America was headed for dictatorship by the end of Bush’s second term. Do you believe that they were correct? Whether any American has civil rights will be decided by the discretionary power of federal officials. The public in general will tolerate the soft dictatorship as its discretionary powers will mainly be felt by those few who challenge it. the last chance for for Americans to reaffirm the separation of powers that is the basis of their civil liberties. What are your thoughts?

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/index.php?articleid=10895

Question: Why do people insult other users when they know it's going to eventually be reported and deleted?

Can you believe that someone actually had the nerve to say this. This is the funniest thing I've ever read.

"We conservatives do not want a dictatorship. We want a representative government that we currently have.

The socialists (Democrats) in America want a dictatorship lead by an Al Gore type who will demand that all of his hypocritical and infantile ideas be put into law. With Al and George Soros in charge, ideas will become crimes. Defending yourself with a gun against an intruder in your own home will be a crime. Calling "man-made global warming" a hoax will get you put in jail without a hearing.

Listen to Al Gore without the ruby glasses. He is out of his mind as are all of the hard-core leftists."

And and don't worry, I don't give anyone thumbs down if they don't agree with me. I respect all your opinions.

Mark A-PATRIOT ACT! ;)

Answer 1

America isn't really headed for a dictatorship, and the answer you got actually illustrates why. The 'two party system' - deeply flawed and corrupt though it may be - and the system of 'checks and balances' (erroded though some of them may have become) - place power in enough different hands, and give those who seek power enough reason to oppose eachother that a would-be dictator would have to both ride a wave of nearly unprecedented popular support (I have to say 'nearly' because of FDR), /and/ bring together both parties under his banner to have a chance of grabbing that much power.

But, while we're not heading for dictatorship, our Federal government /is/ getting more and more authoritarian with each passing decade. Recently, it's been over security issues, but before that, individual rights were sacrificed at the altar of multi-culturalism. No matter what the 'problem,' taking away some rights is always part of the 'solution' - even if the 'problem' is "too many of our rights were taken away by the last administration."

It's a very slow errossion of the Constitution, not a fast track to dictatorship.

Answer 2

Democracies in the past have all turned into dictatorships, so why shouldn't this one? This question haunts me a litle bit. Every so often, the U.S. government gains a little bit more power over the public's lives. In reality, I doubt that America's government will actually turn into a dictatorship because, I believe, constitutionally, there is a limit to how many rights the government can take away. It also won't turn into a dictatorship, hopefully, because of the checks and balances system on the legislative, judicial, and executive branch. I believe that this grants enough people power to oppose a new dictatorship. The constitution also ensures that each president can only serve two terms. On the other side though, this theoretically could change if there is a very big catastrophe crippling the U.S economy, say a terrorist attack on the United States. The head of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, has stated that he has a "gut feeling" that an attack will happen this summer.
Sorry about the editing 2 times, new thoughts kept coming to me.

Answer 3

Yes, I think we're at a crisis point. Taking away basic civil liberties is a serious matter, because once taken away, it's almost impossible to get them back. As a rule, they don't get taken away by dramatic strokes, but rather eaten away, eroded. That's what Bush and company (read Cheney) are doing. The difficulty is that a lot of people simply don't care, either because they approve of harsh treatment of people they perceive as enemies, or because they simply use all their energy just getting through the day.

The hope is the peculiar genius of a democratic form of government. Over time it tends to balance itself, to correct wild swings that result from crises and reach a stable point. It remains to be seen whether we can do that under the current stresses. Winston Churchill said that democracy is a very poor form of government --- but it's better than any other form we have been able to come up with.

Answer 4

What a huge group of sad and pathetic individuals. Do you really believe that the govt would let you post your junk on YA if there were a dictatorship? Especially on "We gave in to the Chinese without a fight and got a reporter sentenced to prison" Yahoo?

There's a reason the Dem's lose far more than they win. They have followers like you. Please keep it up though. Every time you folks talk another person decides to vote Republican.

Answer 5

I thought we already had a dictator for president

Uses exetutive privledge to overule any action against him
ignores the will of the people
uses excessive military force

bush wasnt even legally elected. he was elected by the supreme court, and then the next term all those missing votes,the recounts, all those mistakes

lets not forget about 9/11...wheres the plane that crashed into the pentagon? Wheres the black box for that plane? Why are so many files missing from the control towers while those planes circled for 2 hours?!

Answer 6

Feel free to name ANY civil rights that you feel have been violated.

Go ahead

I'll wait


Anything?

Thought so.



Edit to the new answer; How does the Patriot act violate your civil rights. I asked for a Civil right that was violated.

Answer 7

It is definatly not going to be a Facist country but right now it is much more likley that we end up socialist or communist with the Democrats but i even think that that won't happen. I'll give Democrats some credibility.

Answer 8

If Hillary gets elected, I believe we will be one step closer to dictatorship.

Answer 9

well people who think anyone who disagree with them is wrong certainly want that but I dont think the majority of the people are dumb enough to want dictatorship

Answer 10

Wow... my parents and grandparents were just talking about this the other day... and they think that bush might be planning something to make us turn into a dictatorship... such as dragging us into another war and then saying that there shouldn't be another election while we're in it so that he can stay prez.... tough question...