# Is the U.S. a dictatorship? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 2, 2005, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230 "2005-08-02T00:14:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![New\_Iskander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/db5fbb/32.png) [@New\_Iskander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Iskander)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/41 "2005-08-02T19:54:10Z")
> [@rayh](#): > > …I have parked mine where you wanted to park. Feel FREE to move it then. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/42 "2005-08-02T20:56:35Z")
The OP’er seems to specialize, in a non-prolific way, in the same sort of dreamy incoherence that he displayed in the OP for the current thread. See a previous one he started: [thread=298354]Thread[/thread]. Debating is probably futile. ---
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/43 "2005-08-03T00:51:53Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > You could even say there are undemocratic elements in the system which exist to protect minorities. If they fail, and the majority oppresses the minority (as in Jim Crow); what would you call it? Both “tyranny” and “dictatorship of the majority” work for me. rwj ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/44 "2005-08-03T01:18:45Z")
I would call it a failure of the system and attempt to bring change as per the actual rules in the constitution. ---
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/45 "2005-08-03T01:35:12Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > There is no perfect system. I’d say that ours is pretty good, even the best yet. I am only suggesting, that if judges understood the _obligation_ to weigh unalienable rights on law we would be even better. It is my experience that some do not. > [@](#): > > In fact, there is a very recent thread about that: “How would you change the constitution”, or something to that effect. I am not speaking of changing the Constitution; I am speaking of the precedent understanding that the Constitution is Just only if it secures unalienable Rights. Law can only take you to good and better, to way to best is through justice. In Marbury vs. Madison, the Supreme Court asserted it’s obligation to rule whether a law is Constitutional. I am patiently waiting for the court to recognize its obligation to rule whether a law is Just. I would ask that as reparation for injustice suffered. rwj ---
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/46 "2005-08-03T01:50:50Z")
> [@Fredescu](#): > > The words ‘democracy’ and ‘dictatorship’… Unfortunately, some words have more than _one_ meaning, and sometimes the word fits the _other_ meaning better than any other word available. I am using dictate in the “impose will” sense. > [@Fredescu](#): > > What would you call a situation where the government _does_ secure the rights of its citizens, but the citizens have no choice about who is in power? That is my point. English needs more words. rwj ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/47 "2005-08-03T01:56:53Z")
The ‘Jim Crow’ system is widely recognized nowadays as a shameful betrayal of the principles of our Constitution and the concept of Justice. Can you give us a more modern and tangible example of exactly the sort of injustice you mean? ---
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/48 "2005-08-03T01:59:07Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Can you name any nation, current or historical, that _wasn’t_ a dictatorship? Any country that seeks to secure the unalienable rights of all cannot, by my definition, be a dictatorship. rwj ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/49 "2005-08-03T02:00:41Z")
So that would be none, then? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/50 "2005-08-03T02:01:44Z")
> [@rwjefferson](#): > > Any country that seeks to secure the unalienable rights of all cannot, by my definition, be a dictatorship. > > rwj You’re speaking in riddles again. Name some and explain exactly why they are not dictatorships and how they differ from the US. As many others have noted, your defintion seems to imply that all governments are dicatatorships. ---
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/51 "2005-08-03T02:17:34Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > A flexible system that allows this to change over time is, in my opinion, the best that can be hoped for. Thanks. The least tyranny is found only if the unalienable rights of both plaintiff and defendant are weighed, not dictated, by law. rwj ---
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/52 "2005-08-03T02:21:57Z")
**Catalyst** : Whooooosh. Try again. ---
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/53 "2005-08-03T02:26:00Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Who, exactly, taught you these things about what a dictatorship is, and what justice is, and so forth? Public school, American History. Truth is self-evident to some, incomprehensible to others. rwj ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/54 "2005-08-03T02:26:30Z")
> [@rwjefferson](#): > > Any country that seeks to secure the unalienable rights of all cannot, by my definition, be a dictatorship. Okay, and the name of a country that did this is…? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/55 "2005-08-03T02:39:38Z")
> [@rwjefferson](#): > > Thanks. > The least tyranny is found only if the unalienable rights of both plaintiff and defendant are weighed, not dictated, by law. > > rwj But with that you’re directly countering the founding fathers ‘government of laws and not of men’ concept. I think you’re placing faith outside the law is far more open to abuse and misbehavior than faith is laws. ---
**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/56 "2005-08-03T02:51:08Z")
> [@rayh](#): > > Does liberty mean not locking people up. The obligation we all owe Liberty is to secure (protect) the rights of others. If one is a threat to liberty, the right to liberty is forfeit. > [@](#): > > I declare rwjefferson a tyrant for trying to impose his definition of tyrant/dictator on the rest of us in defiance of how most of us feel the word is defined. I am not the one that is dictating how you use your words. I am using the words that best fit my vocabulary and understanding. I am only asking you to attempt to understand them as I use them. I will do the same for you. You use the words that best fit your meaning and understanding, I will do the same. rwj ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/57 "2005-08-03T03:00:25Z")
> [@rwjefferson](#): > > **Catalyst** : > Whooooosh. Try again. I’m not sure if anyone’s explained this to you yet, but snappy comebacks alone do not a refutation make. If you’d care to actually address the content of my post, I’ll be around. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/58 "2005-08-03T03:13:58Z")
> [@rwjefferson](#): > > I am not the one that is dictating how you use your words. I am using the words that best fit my vocabulary and understanding. I am only asking you to attempt to understand them as I use them. If you truly wish others to understand your posts, it would help if you would deign to publish your brand-new definitions for words when you use them with definitions currently only known to you. I’ve read this thread over a few times and have absolutely no idea what you’re trying to say. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/59 "2005-08-03T03:18:11Z")
> [@rwjefferson](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by Ravenman > > Who, exactly, taught you these things about what a dictatorship is, and what justice is, and so forth? > > Public school, American History. What grade did you get in that public school’s American history class? From where I sit, along with a few other posters in this thread, it certainly seems that you misunderstand quite a few of those concepts. I do see other posters trying to explain the actual definitions of those concepts to you, all to no avail it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230/60 "2005-08-03T03:32:43Z")
To clarify my post (#59), I mean that I’m sitting, figuratively speaking, along with a few other posters in this thread, not that I mean that those other posters misunderstand those concepts as rwj seems to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-u-s-a-dictatorship/315230.md?page=4)