(06-04-2018, 12:01 PM)flsprtsgod Wrote:

(06-04-2018, 11:14 AM)DragonFury Wrote: If Trump pardons himself and Congress doesn't remove him from office then the US can no longer be rightfully called a democracy.

It's ok, we aren't a democracy anyway.

Merriam Webster's definition of democracy:

Quote:a : government by the people; especially : rule of the majority

b : 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

We are definitely a democracy.  We are more than a democracy, and there are more specific ways to describe what we are, but democracy is still correct.
You would probably protest that we're actually a republic, which is also not wrong, but also not super specific:

Quote:a (1) : a government having a chief of state who is not a monarch and who in modern times is usually a president
   (2) : a political unit (such as a nation) having such a form of government

b (1) : a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law
   (2) : a political unit (such as a nation) having such a form of government

The "governing according to law" part seems to be the key difference between the two definitions.  It's the only clause in either set of definitions that would be in play if the President chose to pardon himself and the Congress chose to do nothing about it.  Dragonfury meant that we would no longer have a clear rule of law if this happened and that we would be more like a dictatorship.  Dictatorships have no rule of law, but, if the dictator is not a monarch, and power doesn't pass from parents to children, dictatorships could be categorized as republics, according to the first definition of republic offered by Merriam-Webster. Modern examples of dictatorial republics include Cuba, Venezuela, Egypt, and China.  But, no dictatorship could ever be categorized as a democracy, per Merriam-Webster's definitions of democracy.  So it is best for us not to use either word alone, and specify that we are a "democratic republic" as of today. 

But, if Trump pardoned himself and Congress did nothing, we would be a bit more like a dictatorship starting from that day forward.

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