youtube.com — Chomsky explains the political theory behind the idea that America is not a democracy (as we all should know), but a poligarchy. He also goes into explaining the reason America was created this way and why it still persists as such. 7 minutes in length.
Sep 25, 2006 View in Crawl 4
cathars1sSep 26, 2006
I'm unchecking politics from Digg. I don't want a dose of far-left paranoia with my news. I am far from right of center (I consider myself roughly libertarian), but Chomsky's a bit ridiculous in his views. He's a very smart man in his field (linguistics) but he has a problem with keeping his political opinion to himself.[before you digg me down, consider that the mod system should be used to mod up insightful comments, regardless of political viewpoint. And yes, I did watch the video.]
banderbeSep 26, 2006
@jmurphyYou must be out of your mind.The top 1% of income earners are responsible for OVER HALF of the income tax revenue collected by the Federal Government.
daedalus17Sep 26, 2006
Has anyone on this entire site ever taken a political science class? In case you didn't know democracy is universally understood as one of the worst forms of government. There isn't a single democracy left in the world today, and there is good reason. In a democracy the minorities have no rights. In a true democracy 51% of people could decide to kill the other 49% and it would be perfectly legal! The last true democracy was in ancient Greece and they regularly voted to banish people who were unpopular just because they didn't like them. The United States of America is a Constitutional REPUBLIC! Be thankful we don't live in a true democracy especially if you are in the minority on ANY SUBJECT.
mooreSep 26, 2006
@banderbeI guess you're in favor of paying more taxes then, you know, to even the load? Or are you in that 1%?
styleandprofileSep 27, 2006
wow i didn't think providing some info on Rosseau and political theory would peev people off to get down to -2 digg on a post. i wish reasons for down diggs could be provided and an explanation given for when people wish to say that facts are in dispute. Some clarity should be given.
styleandprofileSep 27, 2006
I don't even see why Chavez should factor into any of this. Just because he read Chomsky, well so do a lot of people. Chavez was elected fair and square, just because he critiques the U.S and Bush publicly doesn't mean he shouldn't be in power or that he achieved power fraudulently as some have suggested. The fact of the matter is that the U.S claims it supports democracy but that is only half true. It supports democracy only when it approves of the outcome and when it can influence the new elected leaders. So yes Chavez reads Chomsky and so should everyone else, at least he's in touch and quite funny to watch.
styleandprofileSep 27, 2006
Amen! oops, bad word choice!
samizdatSep 29, 2006
chomsky is my hero :)
bsiviglia9May 13, 2007
You can thank Chomsky for all of your software because Chomsky's Theory of Generative Grammar is used to make compilers which make computer programming possible.<a class="user" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chomsky_normal_form">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chomsky_normal_form</a>
bsiviglia9May 13, 2007
If common people do not participate in any of the important decision making of the country, how can you claim it is a democratic republic?
bsiviglia9May 13, 2007
You assume California is a democracy?
bsiviglia9May 13, 2007
It's great to us U.S. citizens (that already own lier jets), but what does it do to the rest of the world?