Tag Archives: John Stuart Mill
They think it’s all over – it is now!
Posted by on Nov 7, 2012
Today the American presidential election is over and if my indifference causes offence to any readers in the USA, it is quite unintentional. I’m sure that that we could happily trade insults over one’s indifference to to the other’s ‘affairs of state’. That isn’t quite true of course; the United States’ influence on world affairs far exceeds the arrogant presumptions of those European nations (Britain and France) who also sit on the UN Security Council. To say that the UK and the USA are ‘two nations divided by a common language’ is perhaps trite, but taken beyond any of its original humorous intentions, it nevertheless points to divisions in understanding. It may be that one of our greatest divisions is any common understanding of what we mean, or intend, a ‘democracy’ to be. Read more of this post
The Devil Is in The Detail
Posted by on Jan 22, 2011
Democracy is a word we all like to throw into a discussion and we normally assume that we have a common understanding of a ‘democracy’ that is accepted by all. Some time ago I offered a post with the title ‘No to Democracy’,. It intended to make the distinction between a Democracy and a Republic. Matthew Parris in a Times article, “The trouble with democracy is that you just can’t trust it”, goes on to say; “Democracy, I believe, should always be invited to the table but rarely left to dine alone. I mistrust the quivering, awe-struck deference to Demos as though to some sacred text or divine and inviolable authority. The popular will is one factor – one of many – that it may be wise to take into account”.
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Aasof’s Reflections 