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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (114847)	9/15/2003 4:28:48 AM
From: Jacob Snyder	Respond to of 281500

<Freedom isn't an on or off business. It's a matter of degree.> Exactly so. But when you say it, you run smack into the American Myth, an article of Faith of most Americans, which says: Americans are better than Others. We are better (among other reasons) because we love freedom better than anyone else; We were the first modern democratic Republic, and the best. You can deconstruct this Myth, by finding some objective quantifiable yardstick, to measure Freedom, or Democracy, and then comparing different nations over time. So, for instance, here's one definition of democracy: A nation where at least half the adult population controlled by that nation, gets to vote for the leader of the nation. By that yardstick, none of the ancient Greek Republics came close to being a democracy. They didn't allow women to vote, or slaves. They often had property tests, and racial/tribal/cultural tests. The American and Dutch Republics, as first set up, were a lot like those old Greek republics. It took until the 1920s for the American Republic to become a democracy, by my standard. And the U.S. was not the first: several other British settler-colonies, and Scandinavian countries, extended the franchise to women, before the U.S. did. And even after becoming a democracy, we were not the best (as measured by % of adults ruled by the government, who are allowed to vote for the leader). Blacks (12% of the population) got to vote for a few years after the Civil War, and then got the franchise taken away again until the 1960s. Almost all Native Americans were formally or informally excluded from voting, till well into the 20th Century. Washington DC got to vote for President only in 1961. Our formal colonies (Phillipines, Puerto Rico) never got to vote for President. Same with our many informal colonies (the inmates in Guantanamo don't get to vote in U.S. elections, for no good reason. They are permanent residents on de facto U.S. soil. They haven't been convicted of a felony.) For comparison: In England in the 1850s only about one in every five adult men (1 in 10 of the total adult population) was entitled to vote. In New Zealand: in 1853: Any male British subject (Chinese excluded, just like in California at the time) aged 21 years or older could register to vote (and stand for Parliament) as long as he: owned freehold property worth £50 or more; or paid at least £10 a year to lease property; or lived in a house with an annual rental value of at least £10 (in a town) or £5 (outside a town). About 3/4 of the European male population met this property test. Maoris were effectively excluded, as they owned their property communally. In 1867 Parliament established four Mâori seats. In 1893, the right to vote was granted to all adult women. During WW1, and again in WW2, soldiers were allowed to vote, even if they weren't yet 21. elections.catalyst.net.nz