Does our constitution require that each law must be consistent with the Bible?
Does our constitution require that each law must be consistent with the Bible?
Hope is the denial of reality
Of course not. But many of our "representatives" were elected on platforms based in "Biblical" ideology. Every American ism can be traced to New or Old Testament interpretations and its influences: imperialism, colonialism, militarism, racism, sexism....Originally Posted by Loki
and the proverbial terrorism.
Did Egypt's?
Yes.
Congratulations America
Source please as I've not seen that written anywhere.
The Egyptian Constitution of 2012:
Article 2
Islam is the religion of the state and Arabic its official language. Principles of Islamic Sharia are the principal source of legislation.
Article 4 of the same gives the scholars of Al Hazar jurisdiction over the question what is considered Islamic.
Congratulations America
Thanks didn't know that. May not have been publicised much as it was much the same in the previous constitution apparently.
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/...-analysis-yet/
Congratulations America
What a shitstorm. And I can't believe the Egyptian army fell into the predictable trap of opening fire on a crowd. Actually, I can.
Where voters don't subscribe democracy cannot exist. Democracy requires a bit of apathy between elections.
Faith is Hope (see Loki's sig for details)
If hindsight is 20-20, why is it so often ignored?
Why would being a be democracy contingent on apathy between elections? It may be a bit unwieldy in the case of Egypt but you don't necessarily have to have elections to still be a democratic nation.
Congratulations America
Democracy is somewhat an elected dictatorship between elections.
I beg to differ.
"Wer Visionen hat, sollte zum Arzt gehen." - Helmut Schmidt
By a bit of apathy I mean not ousting an elected official by unsactioned means. By subscribe I mean following the rules layed out before the election ever took place even if it doesn't go your way.
BTW, I don't know of any democratic nations that don't use elections to fill leadership positions. Maybe some tiny island nations I guess?
Faith is Hope (see Loki's sig for details)
If hindsight is 20-20, why is it so often ignored?
I know the origin of that line of thought but it's still ridiculous. You could as easily say that direct democracy is a dictatorship after an issue has been voted on. The implication of the statement is that anything but anarchy is dictatorship. And that's a bit of an over-definition of dictatorship.
Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"
Hence the word somewhat. Its not exactly one but democracy doesn't work if people won't expect the result.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/11/wo...ned-morsi.html Bureaucratic coup.
Hope is the denial of reality
I am trying to wrap my mind around the kind of reasoning I get from a young guy from Egypt. According to him the old Mubarak state was a horrible police state (that part I could still get) but the risks of a Mursi theocracy according to him were so bad that he was seriously happy that a revered institution like the army was taking over; they would control both police brutality and Islamism. How naive.
Congratulations America
The Egyptians have a weird relationship with their military (which, I should note, hasn't won a major war in its entire history). They see that it's part of the autocratic elite, they see that it's engaged in human rights violations, they see that it controls a large part of the economy, and yet they believe the military only has the interests of the nation at heart...
And now the Islamists are blaming the US/Israeli/Christian/Martian nexus for the coup: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/12/wo...hristians.html
Hope is the denial of reality
Is this for real or is it a clip from the upcoming Ender's Game movie? respec'
"One day, we shall die. All the other days, we shall live."
That was a quite impressive monologue indeed. Even if he memorized it.
The thing is that I have little hope for these countries untill they manage to write a Constitution which contains no references to a source of legislation outside its own remit. Holy books nor their interpretation have any place in a basic law.
Congratulations America
Hope is the denial of reality
Dictatorship is a Democracy, elections are just held less regularly and more violently.Democracy is somewhat an elected dictatorship between elections.
That is because you live in one of the few countries if not the only country where there is an actual democracy rather then illusion of democracy. And even here since late 1990s I am not entirely convinced that the government is not passing certain laws that are not in the interest of the country by either not publicizing them sufficiently or misinforming the public as to the consequences. I in particular refer to the war Swiss government is waging on its own banking sector.I beg to differ.
Last edited by Asmodian; 07-18-2013 at 08:35 AM.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/27/wo.../egypt.html?hp
What is the Egyptian left thinking? They're not content with gaining power; they want to annihilate the Brotherhood as well. The same Brotherhood that has the support of ~60% of Egyptians (another 20% are to the social right of the Brotherhood).
Hope is the denial of reality
Must be faux political reporting from the NYT, huh.
So... given the latest clusterfuck, are we looking at more years of de facto military dictatorship? A real transition to democratic government in Egypt is seeming less and less likely. I think the US is also going to get put in a very tricky situation vis-a-vis military and economic aid. Obviously the current situation is unacceptable, but withdrawing aid eliminates our leverage and can have other unfortunate knock-on effects.
Meanwhile, the Sinai is increasingly lawless and we're seeing stepped-up Israeli military activity on the border - just this past week there were rumors of an airstrike in Egyptian territory, there have been occasional rockets lobbed at Eilat or elsewhere, and Israel has quietly moved more troops and surveillance to the border. Are we looking at a new norm - a lawless border/desert region while the military concentrates its hold on the major cities? This does not bode well for regional stability.
I'm not quite sure what the purpose of "leverage" is if it can't be employed without removing the "leverage"...
Hope is the denial of reality
I agree in principle, Loki, but IMO the leverage is really to keep the Sinai largely demilitarized, not to affect domestic Egyptian politics. The country has been run as a military fiefdom since Nasser took power, this isn't actually that different. Is it worth sacrificing our pull in the country (and potentially seeing a realignment with some not-so-friendly countries) over a return to essentially the status quo?
Personally, I question whether the US' guarantee of the Camp David Accords is actually necessary any more, but then again I wasn't alive during the existential concerns of the 60s and 70s, so what do I know?
I think we're sufficiently hated by all sides involved that nothing we do in the short-term would improve our long-term influence with either side. We will be viewed as self-interested traitors by both sides unless we 100% back one of them, which isn't wise for a whole slew of reasons. It's probably in our interest to just stay on the sidelines and tolerate the abuse that will get leveled at us by both sides than to get involved and inflame the situation.
Hope is the denial of reality
This whole mess makes me think of looking on while two school yard bullies give eachother a bloody nose.
Congratulations America
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