Let me tell you the story of the first political discussion I had when I came to America
>Me: "Hello, I am looking for the Political Science Department, please?"
>American: "You talk funny, are you an American?"
>[brief discussion of where I am from]
>A: "Are you here to study?"
>M:"Yes, and I am looking forward to studying Democracy in America and its long policy of Democracy"
>A: laughs a little "Well, that's going to be hard because America isn't a Democracy, it is a Republic."
>M: "Yes, America is a Representative Democracy and a quite interest..."
>A: [very slowly with great emphasis] "No, we are NOT a DEMOCRACY we are a REPUBLIC"
>M: "Of course, a Republic which is a Representative Democracy. In English the term 'Republic' came to mean 'not a Monarchy' during the Enlightenment, which is how Benjamin Franklin used the word. But in modern usage a Republic is just one of the various types of Representative Democracy just as there are a few types of Direct Democracy. America's Presidential Democracy has fascinating diff..."
>A:"I get that you are a foreigner but you need to understand - America is not a Democracy! People who believe that lie are why the country isn't doing very well these days! So get this through your head - America is not a Democracy, it is a Republic!"
>M:"But a Republic is just a type of Democracy! Saying 'America isn't a Democracy it is a Republic' is *just like* saying 'This car isn't a Ford, it is a Mustang'!
>He stormed off
I assumed he was just some ignorant person, but in the almost 2 decades I have worked and lived in America off and on I find huge swaths of Americans think this very thing and repeat it as if it was some sort of profound statement of truth.
You even see it on /pol/!
>>66764302
Americans like to believe interesting facts their teachers told them growing up. In every government class ever the teacher speaks up saying "Fun fact! America isn't a democracy it's a republic! So when your friends say America is a democracy you can tell them otherwise and look smart!" which Americans love to do, look smart infront of others.
Makes sense it happened to you.
>>66764302
Yeah, you will get a lot of retards in the United State...
You will also get a lot of smart people in the United States...
You're welcome for the invention of the technology you are using to post with.
>implying america is a democracy
kek
>>66764656
Ikr its a rebuplic lol
It is though you cuck
http://www.thisnation.com/question/011.html
>>66764302
>implying USA is not a corporate oligarchy
"democracy" literally means people-power
>Looking for smart people in a poli sci department
Well, aside from the fact that your post is fictitious, it's also implausible. That's like saying you came to /pol/ for some rational political discourse.
>>66764542
Of course people from every country believe silly things about their nation. Like this guy
>>66764608
Who thinks that the digital computer was invented in America
>actually a man named Flowers developed the first digital computer in the 1930's for the Royal Post Office of England
what surprises me is how widespread the sentiment is when the nature of America's political system is so critical to the, well, self-image of Americans!
>>66764542
p.much what this guy said. Teachers unions have ruined public education so you get teachers telling students all kinds of weird incorrect shit, especially in elementary school, that doesn't get corrected until at least high school.
>>66764922
>would be smiled upon by the Framers
Why the fuck are Americans always so obsessed with this shit
>IDS WAT THE FOUNDING FATHAS WOULDA WANTED
>>66764302
Cool story OP. No one fucking cares
>>66764302
>Foreigner being a wise ass: The thread
Bet you're autistic as fuck
>>66764302
America IS a republic, not a democracy.
:^)
>>66764922
>First sentence of second paragraph admits that America is a Democracy
See? This is what I am talking about. This long, poorly written article clearly admits that a Representative Democratic Republic is just a variation of Democracy but
>>66764922
Thinks that the statement is somehow profound!
This didn't happen
>>66764947
And the Brit wins. I wish he was wrong be he isn't.
>>66765090
We are proud of our constituition, something Yuropoors change and shit all over on a daily basis.
>>66765029
If you read it again you will clearly see I was not in the PoliSci department, I was looking for it. I was actually in the Business Department.
And I have had similar conversations in American coffee houses, restaurants, private homes, shopping malls, and virtually any place that politics comes up.
>>66764302
I've had the same conversations with americans.
I tried to explain that norway is a constitutional monarchy and the monarch has a symbolic purpose.
That idiot kept asking questions like:"when the king says here must you build a bridge do you have to do it?" "Do you have to bow to the king" and shit like that. I wanted to throw that fuck over board (we were on a ship) seriously the dumbest person i have ever spoken to.
>>66765070
You are a long winded, pretentious, pedantic faggot that is unable to properly socialize and interact with other human beings. People would be more receptive to criticism and being told they're wrong and accepting of it, if only you weren't such a huge fag. Most of the people you will ever talk to won't like you, and will only pretend to like you at most.
>>66765070
What was incorrect about what I said? I know it's a small sample size but I was told the "America is a republic" bit by 2 middle school teachers, and 2 government/civics teachers I've had in highschool. Finally my jr. year when I transferred schools and they wanted to put me in another government class because my old schools civics classes didn't count apparently, I had a competent government teacher who told us that it's a representative democratic republic, which is just another form of democracy.
I'm assuming multiple American anons here have heard the whole "America isn't a democracy, it's a republic" thing from their teachers as well.
>>66764302
Democracy isn't the same as republic dude. In a pure democracy like that practiced in antiquity, citizenship and political activity was a requirement. We are based off enlightenment ideals and roman republic groundwork, hence all the Latin.
Don't act like a cunt In Our country, otherwise you won't get invited back
>>66765090
I see less ancestor worship in China
>>66765106
>well, other than you of course
>>66765271
>MUH CONSTITUSHON
>MUH FOUNDIN FATHAS
Its funny because people always try to lend credit to their arguments in your political debates with this shit. Even when theyre argueing completely different opinions.
>What I said is what the foundin fathaz woulda wanted
>No, what I said is what they wouldve wanted!!
Useless rhetoric appeal to nostalgia.
>>66764302
Sadly, you'll find stupid fuck-tards everywhere. But at least most Americans are somewhat open and don't dick off foreigners on purpose.
>>66765090
It started with "What did they mean when they wrote this law that says shall not? Did they mean sometimes shall? Most of the time shall? All the time shall? We need to find out how far we can go with this."
If you find a pretext that seems to indicate a founding father agreed with or didn't mean to cover your stance, it's somehow supposed to legitimize reinterpreting the law. This is why the bill of rights has been shredded. They didn't have machine guns and cellphones, so we can take those away and monitor everyone's calls!
>>66765224
Listen, here is a little test you can have - when speaking to your friends and co-workers just ask
"Is America a Democracy or a Republic?"
Or slip into casual conversation
"America, which is a Democracy"
and see how often this happens to you
>>66764784
now I can use this picture
>>66765070
Oh and you're also really stupid and evidently can't understand what someone else is trying to communicate with you, instead insisting on literal and annoying interpretations of what people say.
For example, someone is trying to get you to understand that there IS a difference between a representative democracy and pure democracy, which is what people will try to tell you. Instead you insist America is democracy, when this term is clearly reserved for pure and actual democracies, which is what people think of when they hear just 'Democracy', and they are trying to get you to conform to conventions that are in place so that people can easily communicate.
You wouldn't know this, because you are a literal autist. But maybe I was able to get you to understand why you are so retarded.
>>66765429
Right, its pretty odd
Im not saying you guys shouldnt be proud of that history though. Its pretty cool and interesting to have the founding of your nation so well attested and documented from the very start, different from Europe.
>>66765551
>Canadian doesn't understand the point of fashy goys memes
>>66764302
If the U.S. is so dumb, racist, gun happy and obese why do dumb fucks from all over the world come here. Just go back to your perfect place to live and make both our lives better. You won't though because this is the best place to live and you know it.
>>66765312
Seriously, you're lying, it's obvious. Your claim reads like a Borat quote, "I am comings to America to make great education on Democracy of Democratic United States! Please to taking me to teacher of political sciencing!"
And then, just like Borat, you had zany adventures all across American coffeehouses, restaurants, private homes, malls, and everywhere else.
>>66764302
Where are you from?
>>66765657
>this is the best place to live and you know it.
This is a misconception that makes you look extremely dumb.
If you want to argue against the misconception of all americans being dumb, youre doing it in the wrong way.
America is a fine place to live but so are a whole bunch of other countries.
>>66765806
Borat is from Kazakhstan
>>66764302
Wow.
Yeah America is a democracy, where a republic is a subset of a democracy (in modern terms).
To put it in terms that Americans understand:
>A Ford Escape is a car, whereby the SUV is a subset of a car.
You must have gone to a shitty poli sci department. Most of the people I know who say stupid shit like that are the ones who have no background in political science at all.
well, they (university studens in Texas) never even heard about the Civil War, how could they know this "complicated shit" about republics
>>66764302
that's nice dear
Oh no plenty of dipshits here think that the US is a Democracy and not a Democratic Republic.
Welcome.
So if America is so good at spreading Democracy, why arent they one themselves?
Checkmate atheistians
>>66765413
Nostalgia? Do you know when the United States Constitution was written?
>>66765606
>For example, someone is trying to get you to understand that there IS a difference between a representative democracy and pure democracy, which is what people will try to tell you.
Not being discussed. What is being discussed is if America is a democracy, whereby democracy is "a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections."
>Instead you insist America is democracy, when this term is clearly reserved for pure and actual democracies, which is what people think of when they hear just 'Democracy', and they are trying to get you to conform to conventions that are in place so that people can easily communicate.
Wrong, see above.
>You wouldn't know this, because you are a literal autist. But maybe I was able to get you to understand why you are so retarded.
Hate to break it to you, but you're the autist. You missed the point entirely. of OP's post and you immediately began with some attacks, thereby discrediting you completely, see >>66765347 by pretending to be smart, when in fact, you are not.
Retard.
>Its a republic, not a democracy.
>But...
>Republic, republic, republic,!!
That wasnt an ignorant, it was an autistic person.
>>66765070
I do believe it was Americans who designed the transistor, ie the computer that you're using, moron.
>>66765657
Lets check these perks one by one:
Racist (),
Dumb --> Wouldn't say so. The US may have a more elitist approach to education, see Harvard, the MIT and so on, but the results speak for themselves.
Gun happy (),
Obese --> Only real downside, but since it's a free land, everyone has to care for their own health... maybe it's the price for having sugar, fat and salt as biggest flavor carriers within the American kitchen.
So only one slight downside that doesn't personally affect you. So yes, for me the USA are still among the top destinations to immigrate to.
>>66764302
You have to go back
>>66766601
> mfw Checkmark doesn't work on 4chan
>>66766438
Austrian-German was the first man to design and patent a transistor.
Americans were the ones to first put it to practical use.
Why do Americans always insist on saying they invented everything? Who gives a fuck, you're European descendents. We built this fucking world, together, and now it's being torn apart by niggers and muslims. Get your head out of your ass.
>>66766224
Let's get straight to it because I don't want to respond to your post which missed the point half the time and is wrong the other half.
You're retarded, and so is OP. If OP wasn't such a huge faggot he wouldn't try to tell people they're wrong when they say that America is a republic, and not democracy where they clearly mean democracy in its stricted and purest form, in the guy in OP's case, was probably brought up because of some retarded and misguided ideas on democracy versus a republic, evidenced by the guy's statement where he says that the reason America isn't doing so good is because people believe that America is in fact a democracy where it's actually a republic, which is apparently a problem because apparently "real" democracy is better and would solve all our problems.
He'd be wrong in that assumption, but it doesn't change the fact that he is right in saying that America is not a democracy if we conform to standard convention and assume that when someone says "democracy" when the context is "democracy versus republic". What OP is doing is trying to elevate himself and his beliefs to a higher status than other stupid people. He fails miserably because he's stupid too, kind of like you, but he's also at least right in that the other person was stupid, for various reasons. One of which being his inability to reconcile these facts with OP and admit that yes, a republic is technically a democracy, but OP is still being fucking retarded for trying to assert something without even understanding what the other person is saying.
>>66766728
Basically it's the lightbulb all over again.
Or paper and gun powder concerning the chinese and europe.
>>66765415
Actually, this is very true. With very few exceptions I have found Americans to be very kind, friendly people with a strong sense of justice. My wife says that American women are some of the most welcoming she has ever encountered.
>>66764302
GET OUTTA MY COUNTRY, PAKI!
It's a REPUBLIC!
>>66766808
Democracy doesn't just mean "direct democracy," though. If it did, then there would be no need for the distinction. Democracy is a more general term under which systems like direct democracy and representative democracy fall.
It just shows their ignorance when people try to act like a republic is not a democracy. Frankly, it is usually used by authoritarian types to explain why their ideas are more important than yours. People who say it should be ignored.
>>66766728
>Why do Americans always insist on saying they invented everything? Who gives a fuck, you're European descendents. We built this fucking world, together, and now it's being torn apart by niggers and muslims. Get your head out of your ass.
You're misunderstanding. The whole world is the United States!
>>66766808
tl;dr
You already lost your credibility here >>66765347
Refresh your ID and try again.
>>66766728
Probably because we made everything usable by the common consumer and europoors are forever butthurt. Half of you post of Iphones.
>>66767088
Ah yes, who could forget about the yuropeen Kangz n sheit who invented everything?
>>66767208
I don't. I got a Samsung. But it doesn't really matter, when in fact the are all manufactered in China.
>>66767092
:^)
>>66765657
Americans aren't racist, overall. I've been to racists countries and know the difference. And I don't mind all the guns.
But Americans believe all sorts of things that just aren't true, like
>"[America]...is the best place to live..."
Sorry, no. America is nice enough but can't compare to plenty of places in Europe.
>>66767421
>Sorry, no. America is nice enough but can't compare to plenty of places in Europe.
Europe is nice enough but can't compare to plenty of space in America.
>>66767421
Then go back, Yerotrash.
It is really annoying to have an autistic foreigner complain about the country they are visiting.
(I don't know your background, but it doesn't matter if you're American or not. Go back.)
>>66765723
LOL
I have lived for 12 out of the last 18 years in the US and my statement that someone insisted that America is a Republic not a Democracy is somehow too outlandish to be real?!
I have had it happen easily 8 or 9 times since and the Americans in this thread either agree or are making the same argument. You can see it in this thread!
And PoliSci wasn't my major.
>>66765845
Liechtenstein, as a child, but my father was a banker so I grew up in London and Dublin
>>66766190
Originally in 1787 right? How the fuck is something from 250 years ago not nostalgic? Dont you Americans like to think of the "good old times" and all that?
>>66767522
This is the other thing I find fascinating about Americans.
>American: "Man, [West Virginia and Mississippi are shitholes full of dirt-poor inbred hicks]/[Chicago/Philly/whatever is a corrupt, violent, dirty, expensive city] I can't imagine why anyone would ever live there!"
>Foreigner: "Yes, there are places in [somewhere else] nicer than those places"
>American: "Then get the Hell out of America if you don't like it! America is the best place in the world!"
I remember studying in Michigan and listening to people complain bitterly about how poor, dangerous, and corrupt Detroit and Chicago are and how poor, dangerous, corrupt, and ignorant American Southerners are and then completely dismiss the idea that Vienna or Provence or such could be better than ANY of America, often being very abusive about it.
Like in the first post, I am surprised how Americans, who are usually so friendly, can have such cognitive dissonance about America.
>>66764302
>>you talk funny...
Stopped reading there. People don't actually say that.
>>66768227
Well you have a point but this is a phenomenon thats visible in many countries where locals find it easy to point out flaws of their country, but if a foreigner starts pointing out flaws they will defend it, cause well, it is their country after all and they are proud of it despite flaws.
Good examples are Poland or South Africa.
>>66764302
Fluoride in the water fåm.
...Aswell as Mercury in vaccines, Lead and Arsenic in our food, Weed shilled like crazy by Seth Roganstein, stupid teachers inept at teaching and now no Dubya left behind. Shit's bad mang, we are poisoned into stupidty.
>>66767585
I find this funny becaue I feel that most people I know would probably say america is a democracy and not a republic
>>66768833
True, but I am not talking about criticizing America, I am talking about their rejection of the idea that someplace else might be as good or better. I tell Poles
>"The south fo France is nice"
and they'll say things like
>"Yes, the weather is great"
not
>"Get the Hell out of Poland"
