Democracy has been rendered horribly confusing and ineffective

[MorkandMindy]

Confusing: a lot of terms such as: left, democratic, progressive, liberal, democratic socialist, radical, reformist, interventionist, Keynesian, big government, Globalist, Neo-liberal and humanist are applied interchangeably despite the different and sometimes opposite meanings.

Conservative, Right-wing, traditional, republican, small government, federalist, Neo-conservative, nationalist, xenophobic, and reactionary are also sometimes also used interchangeably.

One take-way is not to talk politics with someone from another country because despite being of the same opinion you may end up in a fierce argument.

 

[MorkandMindy]

and that can even happen with someone in this country.

Ineffective:
One of the best to render a democracy ineffective is if instead of listening to and choosing between candidates is to have two parties instead. This leads to:

Procrastination - he's not my President, just wait until my party gets in... 8 year delay... and then it still doesn't get done.

Excuses - yes he was a Democrat and both houses were Democratic but the Republicans opposed it, OR he's a Republican and both houses were Republican but the Democrats made a mess of it. I've heard it both ways.

 

[Lazarus Short]

Remember that the US of A is a Republic, not a Democracy...or as I like to spell it, a Democrazy.

 

[com7fy8]

not to talk politics with someone from another country because despite being of the same opinion you may end up in a fierce argument

You can draw a person out, first, and get acquainted with his or her vocabulary and grammar capability. Then, once you know what the person means by his or her terms, you might be able to communicate with correct understanding of words you use.

 

[Pommer]

You can draw a person out, first, and get acquainted with his or her vocabulary and grammar capability. Then, once you know what the person means by his or her terms, you might be able to communicate with correct understanding of words you use.

Aye, the subject of politics is often difficult to discuss when everyone agrees with the terms used, ever moreso when one has to delve into the fray to define the terms beforehand to make sure that we’re all talking about the same things.

I am sure that you’ve (@MorkandMindy) seen back-and-forths where great “walls of text” grace these forums, picking away at the edges to score a rhetorical point here, concede a definition there...

Politics “looks easy”, but it ain’t.

 

[Kentonio]

I don’t think the issue is terminology, just that most people have already decided their position before they start talking, and even if what they’re hearing is actually agreeable to them, it must be wrong if it’s coming from the other ‘side’. Republicans and Democrats (the voters that is) are largely not particularly different, it’s usually just the party badge that suddenly makes them mortal ideological enemies.

 

[com7fy8]

Aye, the subject of politics is often difficult to discuss when everyone agrees with the terms used, ever moreso when one has to delve into the fray to define the terms beforehand to make sure that we’re all talking about the same things.

After a brief scanning of the in-party Democratic candidate debates, I got the impression that ones even within the same group can be very much not agreeing with each other.

And ones in an argument . . . including not about politics . . . can be disagreeing when they do not even really understand each other!