redcoat
Posts: 1035
Joined: 8/31/2005 From: UK Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Mynok quote:
ORIGINAL: redcoat quote:
ORIGINAL: Telumar quote:
ORIGINAL: Wirraway_Ace If they so distrust the world's oldest functioning democracy, That was 70 to 65 years ago. Different time, different circumstances. You might put the word functioning into parenthesis. EDIT: Nitpicking here, but Switzerland was before you... "The history of your institution, of your Parliament, still today influences most of our contemporary political regimes. Your Parliament has become what it is through the protection of individual freedoms – it’s a lesson that you, the British, have given the world. This Parliament, yours, was the first in the world to achieve the results of parliamentary democracy which make you what you are, and you represent the cornerstone of all our democracies." President Sarkozy of France addressing the British Parliament in 2008. I think there are several places with a claim to being the world's oldest functioning democracy. Well there is the salient fact that while we were fighting you to establish our democracy, your king was still pretty much in charge. Constitutional monarchy is what I would give you full credit to being the first to establish. But it was still in most points a fully functional monarchy. And let me add that I personally think a constitutional monarchy is a very good form of government. It has some definite advantages over a republic such as ours in some critical areas. So let it not be said I'm disparaging your form of government at the time. I think we will have to disagree over the facts. I believe that Parliament was the dominant force in British politics before the American War of Independence. Anyway – lets not get sidetracked by an old unfortunate disagreement. Our two countries have different democratic systems of Government, but we have a great deal in common when it comes to values. I certainly did not mean to cause offence by making my light-hearted remark about who had the oldest functioning (i.e. continious) democratic institution.
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“‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’” George Orwell, 1984
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