
Originally Posted by
Idaho
The significant element of a democracy is that the public are consulted. If you exclude significant parts of that public, it ceases to be legitimate consultation. The existence of some old lady with the job of rubber stamping laws makes no significant difference to this. Consultation of the public is key.
So Israel is a democracy in it's borders, but in the land it occupies, it is not a democracy, but a military dictatorship.
1910s England was not a democracy because it entirely excluded women from public consultation. 1930s England was a democracy, with plenty of issues and flaws, but a democracy none the less.
1950s America didn't allow black people to vote in much of the country. That is, by any reckoning, undemocratic. 1830s America didn't even allow them basic human rights. It's a simple point, but Americans struggle with it.
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