lol, briter, what would I be disagreeing with? That we live in a "democratic" country? Well, yes but there are all sorts of democratic systems -you can see them around the world- but they are not all the dinkum thing.
Much manipulation of votes and reps. and deals of bills to be presented in Parliament take place behind the scenes. We have many laws which are written solely to protect these secret deals rather than to open them to public scrutiny. Immigration laws are appallingly undemocratic for example. If we had a truly democratic system, there'd be no room for the likes of Joh, or John, or Ruddock, Andrews, Kennett and their ilk of dictators. Corruption of openness, freedom and civil rights would not be able to happen.
Russia, too, can claim to call itself a democracy. Hamas was elected democratically.
True democracy is not a system of "mob rule" but a system based on law and the wishes of the majority of the population, PROVIDED that the population has been educated and informed in an egalitarian manner: Free, best and total education for all. That is the essence of a true Democracy: free access to accurate information.
Constitutional (or otherwise) monarchy is just that: Monarchy. The word is a euphemism for Dictatorship. The first is a Greek word, the latter a Latin one, identical in meaning. These days the royal edicts have become a great deal more politically correct and there are constitutional laws that limit the powers of the crown a little bit but, rest assured, if one of those throne warmers want to do something badly enough, it will happen -with the profound blessing of the Parliament! And, really, mate, I'd rather be ruled by my mob then by some incoherent, unintelligent monarch who rules by whim rather than by justice.
No, I don't disagree that Oz has, by and large, a democratic system but it does not fulfill all of the criteria of a Democracy. There's still a great deal of work to be done.
