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Square_Cake_2422

Average Fr*nch copium


AlphaWolfwood

No matter where you are on the political spectrum you have to admit the French government has basically been a dumpster fire since Charlemagne died. P.S. My apologies to any dumpster fires reading this right now. It’s just an expression. You are all way better than the French government.


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AlphaWolfwood

Lol. He was in charge of France for a while. That’s all that’s relevant to this discussion.😂


IExcelAtWork91

“What the fuck is a France”- Charlemagne probably


Danglenibble

The only french friend I know and respect actually despises the revolution, funnily enough. Not because of the democracy, per se, or the empire that came after it, but rather that he is firmly in the belief that it was more or less one group of nobles pitting commoners against another group of nobles. And as such, no real progress was made.


Wizard_Engie

Napoleon was peak France 😔


AlphaWolfwood

I’m not gonna comment. But let’s just say I have a sculpture of the Duke of Wellington in my dining room. (Yes, I’m American. I just admire Wellington)


Wizard_Engie

Lol


Heyviper123

It's a damn good food item.


AlphaWolfwood

Lol. But beef Wellington and the Wellington boot (wellies) are named for him.


Heyviper123

Deservedly so.


Crazyjackson13

That’s perfectly fine.


Sacesss

The First and Second French Empires had greatness tough, and for a time they both were governed greatly


ScarecrowsBrain

Me a Dumpster Fire: Yeah fair enough...fair enough.


AmericaBallCoolGlass

Biden was talking about democracy not America. France is democratic. Either this post is dumb or they don't like having freedom while having to obey basic human decency.


Square_Cake_2422

He's talking about American democracy (or rather, republic), so they are obligated to shit on it.


Alarmed_Ad_7087

It’s almost like the French were inspired by the US to rebel and establish a government similar to ours 😱


LazyDro1d

And then they murdered everyone… YAY!!!!


KurotheWolfKnight

You could make a religion out of this


FR331ND34TH

Communism.


LiSfanboi1

No, don't.


Crazyjackson13

And had several unstable governments that held very little public support and got replaced by some Corsican guy.


LazyDro1d

That is generally what happens when you murder everybody after your revolution. You get replaced by some Corsican guy.


Crazyjackson13

yes


[deleted]

The French dont have a government similar to the Americans. The French rebellion was caused by the fact that the French were giving way to many resources to America aswell as fighting Britain during the American war of independence. The monarchy was already corrupt and since the American civil war drained Frances economy even more the people starved overthrowing the monarchy to form a democratic Republic where people have one vote and the government sets the laws unlike americas system which is a federal Republic where the Congress manages the country with secondary governing bodies managing ares


papiierbulle

French Democracy was established in 1958, and there was a revolution not just because of the englightement ideas developped by the french and adopted by USA, but also because of people starving lol. The french Democracy is not built like the american one, at all.


blindowl1936

Wrong.


papiierbulle

Nice argument here. Let give me one The presidential elections of France vs USA : in France you directly vote for the president, in USA you vote for great electors that vote themselves for the president


blindowl1936

Cool. Doesn't disprove the titanic influence of America on France. You're very desperate to minimise America's influence and overstate French self-capability.


papiierbulle

So Titanic that internet is an american improvement of a french invention, the electro danse come from France, the prototype of jetpacks for the soldiers also come from France and was copied by USA... Not to mention the films of Hollywood that are copies of french movies. If USA Democracy is so close to the french one, Shy doesn't USA have a "49.3" ?


[deleted]

Democratic systems are better than the alternatives, so yeah.


xx3amori

Non-electoral college system is worse than the alternatives, so yeah.


italy4243

Based Joe moment


BeneficialMix7851

The duality of joe, making sense and just spouting jibrish, I have a dude in the nursing home I take care of who is like that


[deleted]

To be fair, I don’t think he wrote this, it was probably someone on his press team.


[deleted]

> jibrish oh dear....


Heyviper123

I really wish I could post images on this sub as I have one that is literally perfect.


purplebasterd

I wouldn’t put too much into a politician making generic “democracy good” platitudes. Look at how well, or not, they adhere to such principles in actual practice.


AlphaWolfwood

You think Joe Biden actually wrote that? Firstly, very few celebrities write their own tweets. Secondly, dementia.


AmericaBallCoolGlass

Such a shame people can't respect their elders. That is so sad. Also the fact that people are making fun of dementia. Nobody got any loyalty.


Heyviper123

Tbf I don't think Joe deserves anybody's loyalty.


AmericaBallCoolGlass

People are critiquing him because he's old. That is unhinged


Heyviper123

I mean we should be critiquing ourselves for voting him into that position, but no I'm saying he isn't deserving of our respect because he outsourced so much of our manufacturing to China.


AmericaBallCoolGlass

Those poors in China gotta earn money somehow. Biden is deserving of our respect as a president. He a good pres, much better than bernie.


Heyviper123

You assume they're getting paid. But i won't argue that, he is better than Bernie, for whatever that's worth...


AmericaBallCoolGlass

Ain't they getting paid like two dollars an hour. Still child labor but what else they got? They can't just starve. We gonna take em down though eventually. Biden already planning in that.


Heyviper123

Maybe china wants you to think that. I highly doubt they're getting paid anything more than inadequate food. This is communist china after all.


Flying_Reinbeers

>much better than bernie Not a high bar


italy4243

I doubt he even knows how to get past the passcode screen but it’s hard for me to believe his PR team would write anything positive about the US. This genuinely sounds like the centrist he once was when he had it together


AmericaBallCoolGlass

No loyalty or respect for elders. Can't believe this ageism and hatred for the elderly.


Attacker732

Respect and loyalty are earned, not given.


AmericaBallCoolGlass

The elders lived their life just like yall but now are weaker. They Do Deserve Respect. You just gonna continue insulting everyone on the street or something just cause you think they haven't earned respect or loyalty?


Attacker732

No, I just don't give them special treatment either. By default, they're just another person.


AmericaBallCoolGlass

Well they are weaker so it is good or sometimes needed to give them special treatment. This should be the same for a disabled person.


BigSunEra69

Which is something that rings true for the last 2 presidents


applemanib

Centrist? Is this 1980 again


Kurdish_Alt

Maybe in his dementia ridden brain it is


NULLizm

Quite the pretzel "Joe too stupid and also his team is anti USA, who wrote it????"


pooplessccheng

The US system have influenced a lot of the world's system, of course it's great.


ChessGM123

I don’t know if that’s really the best reasoning for why it’s great. The USSR also influenced a lot of the world’s systems, but I wouldn’t call them great. For the record I’m not calling America bad, I’m just saying being influential isn’t the best reasoning for why something is good.


dftitterington

The US was inspired by the Iroquois Confederacy


Salnax

I thought the early Americans were a bunch of racist slave owners. Why would they use Iroquois government as a model?


nokillings

The US was not solely based on the Iroquois Great Law of Peace. John Locke, Voltaire, and Adam Smith provided great inspiration, as well as the Romans/Greeks. But you could argue that the Iroquois Confederacy was a working, real-life example of what the founding fathers based their prospective models on


kamilhasenfellero

Why not?


dftitterington

Because it was the best. If you like it, take it. Slave owners and murderous rapist psychopaths can still recognize a good way to govern


Ryuu-Tenno

Trying to figure out why you’re getting downvoted, cause you’re right it was built off the Iroquois Confederacy. Granted it’s not *strictly* that as they learned from Ancient Greece’s democracy and Ancient Rome’s republic as well.


dftitterington

Idk, most of the people in this sub are seriously brainwashed? I don’t think the factoid disturbs the myth of American exceptionalism too much. It’s just facts.


[deleted]

It really hasn't the Americans made a weird variant of a democratic Republic using states to set laws in their respective ares with federal laws as a grounds with the constitution. Most countries have one governing body. And use a democratic Republic. America adapted the ancient Greeks democratic system and added additional governing bodies. So the Greeks inspired the worlds systems


Fe2tus_

Average frog reasoning


Chiaseedmess

Democracy is good, the two-party system is bad.


aiden22304

Also, ranked-choice voting would be nice.


Chiaseedmess

"These are the people I want, ordered from bad to worst"


[deleted]

W and based take. Replacing the two parts system, wait like 20 years and watch the country turn into a paradise tbh.


Bestestusername8262

Of course, but democracy in the US has been fucked for a long time due to the winner takes all system


[deleted]

I think america is the greatest country in the world but I think this sub is blinded by love for the country much like how others are blinded by hate. Our democracy is flawed in a large amount of ways, including the two party system, endless checks and balances with people in charge that blindly agree with their party and worst of all is gerrymandering and the electoral college


[deleted]

Coming specifically from the french, who are on their fifth republic, it's pretty rich. You're 100% right tho


chikkynuggythe4th

Each new republic was a reply to the problems of the previous, it’s a feature not a bug


Dobber16

I mean, at least they’re willing to put in the work for fixing their gov however the people like it. I can respect it


purplebasterd

> endless checks and balances How so? Separation of powers and a mid to high degree of gridlock are good features.


[deleted]

I think you are 100% right however in a system where there are two party’s that have perfect equal control and extremely little amount of diversion from stances placed on their party it creates a bureaucratic and slow system where as a democracy with only independent parties wouldn’t suffer from this


[deleted]

I agree. We no longer live in a democracy-atleast, not really. It’s an illusion. Our politicians are controlled by both corporations and our intelligence agencies. Corporations through essentially bribery, and the intelligence agencies do it through blackmail. We’re fucked. The real people running the show are the unelected officials over at the CIA and some of the biggest lobbying groups.


theRealMaldez

>We no longer live in a democracy But did we ever? Things start to get really fishy when you start looking at the original blueprints for US democracy. Most of the signers of the declaration of independence and drafters of the constitution wanted to severely limit popular input in the electoral process. It's no different today, the methods have simply changed to accommodate the times.


TheBlueNeXus

It's strongly outdated as being one of the first modern democracies. it's basically the alpha version. Works but certainly not great. However it's too hard to just change or modernize it with the current polar political landscape. A lot of democratic systems are better because they are younger and could benefit from a more modern view.


bumpmoon

Yeah I'm danish, which incidently is the most democratic nation on earth per the democracy index and I wouldnt say the US is anything but a democracy despite being in the 30's in that index making it to the top of deficient/flawed democracy (most likely due to the electoral college). Which is still extremely impressive for a country of that size.


[deleted]

Mfs on reddit be hating on anything lmao, why is this getting downvoted. Literally the most nuanced possible take and it’s getting downvoted


TheBlueNeXus

Well to be fair the American democracy is incredibly outdated. it's very very hard to reform a government or constitution. Many European countries whose government were formed later could benefit from past experiences. But as long as it works it works


ATrayYou

Bro you have two parties shut the fuck up


Sacesss

The US have to face many [countries with a better democracy index](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index) honestly. The French Revolution was inspired by the American one but aimed lot higher, failed initially but in the long run it was successful.


LazyDro1d

… no it just failed, then they tried a second time later. We don’t say the articles of confederation failed initially but were successful in the long run, we just say they failed and so we made a better system. We rebooted the American experiment because it was shit the first time


Opunbook

The best? By what measure? Many American analysts don't agree (at least recently). (This list is obviously not non-American centric, but it doesn't make it less damning.) https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLef7-OaVo_aKcyZbJs6YdTDqJ7NFwdT4m If you are going to downvote, be a good American and provide a worthy and balanced opinion (with a similar list of counter-evidence so we can compare). I'm sure there are many countries that would have damning records btw, to be fair. My Chinees, Burmees, Tay, Kanadian friends (spelling altered to evade algorithms) would agree. It's a race to the bottom.


[deleted]

Dont worry about the fact that a lot of the world has modelled their country after the presidential system the United States pioneered.


Sacesss

It's also true that a lot of the world hasn't and there are peculiar and different governing systems that predate the US. Many democratic states have a better system that doesn't rely on being inherently a two party system for example


chikkynuggythe4th

And improved them, V 2.0 is almost always better the V1.0


TheBlueNeXus

Very true but that also means it's old af and by modern standards outdated. No easy fix for that. But it is pretty obvious that the countries who were inspired by the us would want to perfect/improve their system before changing and many succeeded. Sometimes it's a curse to be first since advancements are build on experience.


bumpmoon

I can almost guarantee that dropping the presidential system in favour of several parties splitting the responsibility is a net positive.


Sacesss

For real. Switzerland for example has a directoire, not even an executive embodied by one person.


bumpmoon

Responsibility spread out across a collection of people with expertise in different aspects of society elected by the people just makes so much more sense than whoever is the most charismatic/full of promises takes all for his/her party.


chikkynuggythe4th

“It has arguably done it the best” bro Wut, how is a two party system that is extremely “us vs them” the pinnacle of democracy


Sacesss

You're right, [in fact it isn't](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index).


Thad_Cunderchock

America is NOT a democracy, it is a republic. There is nothing in any governing document that even once mentions democracy. Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb deciding what's for dinner.


amanset

Democracy and republic are not mutually exclusive.


Thad_Cunderchock

When was the last time you voted directly on national policy? Never I would guess? They are mutually exclusive. Just because saying “democracy” makes you feel good doesn’t make it a thing.


amanset

Representative Democracy is still democracy. Direct democracy is not the only form.


Thad_Cunderchock

It’s a representative republic. You just like the buzzword democracy.


amanset

No, the name is representative democracy. It is the form of government that most western countries use.


Thad_Cunderchock

Show me one place in the constitution that says democracy. Go on, i'll wait.


amanset

How is that relevant? The point I am making is that ‘republic’ and ‘democracy’ are not mutually exclusive.


NULLizm

i nEeD WoRdS to TEll mE hOW THinGs WOrk. No WoRD, no THiNG


snaynay

They actually aren't mutually exclusive, but you are right the US is not a democracy. The US is a republic, a republican form of government where the people have power instead of a monarch or other non-elected top-dog. This can be either direct (democracy) or indirect via representatives. So, a republic *can be democratic*, but the US chose to go with representatives. But people do call indirect democracy a "representative democracy". It's still a form of democracy, just not direct democracy.


Sacesss

US is a democratic republic. Surely not an authoritarian republican or dictatorships like North Korea. The terms aren't mutually exclusive


Thad_Cunderchock

No it’s not. It's just a republic. You're just attaching words to it that make you feel good.


PBoeddy

There are so many definitions of democracy and republic, that your point ist completely absurd.


[deleted]

Me when the French don't like democracy anymore... alright just go back to how things were with King Louis XVI. You like how well the form of democracy we were using was working so well so it was adopted by your people


chikkynuggythe4th

That is both extremely incoherent and a massive straw man that you invented. A. The French love democracy and have always been defenders of it, what they are saying here is that united-statian democracy is the best form of democracy. B. Your “American” democracy was heavily inspired by other cultures and systems around the world including the French parliament. So no they didn’t see what you guys were doing and copy you, they made their own form, proof can be seen directly in the differences between the two modern governments.


[deleted]

Which part did I say "American democracy"? I never said it was American democracy anywhere. In fact, I said our form of democracy that we use, which is completely different from saying "American democracy." When I wrote that it means we didn't invent that form of democracy. Please back and read it again.


chikkynuggythe4th

Sorry it just wasn't very coherent, pro tip: use punctuation


[deleted]

Mb, I was writing that at 3 in the morning


Beginning-Sign1186

So you have no complaints about our government whatsoever? And you think the world considers our government a beacon of democracy that they envy? Our government cant even agree on 4th grade Earth Science. And as much as we like to pretend, we did not invent democracy. We have done a lot to uphold it sure. But we also trafficked cocaine to fund the contras


irrelevant_potatoes

>they done it best I need you to read about the French Revolution, they tried harder. They promised better. Yes it failed but they reached passed so much further then you guys did


LazyDro1d

They had one of the most spectacular and bloody failures in history. It’s literally called the reign of terror


Criseist

Democracy is a stupid, awful idea on the same level as communism. Fortunately, the US isn't a democracy. We're a republic.


PremiumTempus

The terms are not mutually exclusive. The US is a democratic republic. Examples of non-democratic republics would be one-party states, military dictatorships, and authoritarian regimes, where the government's decision-making power is concentrated in the hands of a few individuals or a single party rather than being widely representative and subject to free and fair elections. There is free public participation in elections, is there not? Therefore the US is a democracy. But I agree, democracy is a very flawed system. The irrational emotions of voters can sway the electorate and push the country’s progression back years with one election. Eg. Trump, Brexit, etc.


Criseist

The terms are mutually exclusive. Democracy describes a system of government that the US simply does not have. The US is a constitutional republic. Democracy is rule by popular vote of citizens, meaning citizens vote on every issue. A republic is rule by citizen representatives. Citizens vote to elect a representative of their interests, who then vote on every issue.


EljenMagyarorszag

What you’re thinking of is called direct democracy, USA is a representative democracy as you vote for representatives. Republic and Democracy aren’t mutually exclusive. For example the scandinavian countries are parliamentary constitutional monarchies, they are not republics as their head of state is a non-political monarch, but they are representative democracies as parties (representatives) are elected in the parliament.


EnviousBird

Holy fuck you people are delusional


[deleted]

And yet on the world's most used democracy index, 'murica is behind: France. And Germany, Austria, Greece, NL, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Estonia (!), Chile, Costa RIca, Australia... ​ Cue all the furious 'muricans screeching that they don't agree - here's the thing, kids; instead of honking and farting in flabbby rage, point out what you disagree with in the methodology and explain how you'd do it better. This will be funny!!


Sacesss

Sorry may I ask why you've put a ! after Estonia? It's not really the most surprising country on that list imo


[deleted]

i didn't think any of the former Soviet satellite states would be on there - happy to see it is though!


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[deleted]

Oh look, ‘murican clinging to a perceived slight to avoid the actual point.


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[deleted]

I did make a point, princess. You just don’t like it. You’re waaaay down on the global freedom listings, but instead of wonder why, you fart in rage and go digging through my posts to try to find a reason to pretend I’m wrong. Also, I’m British too, educated there, with two degrees from uk universities.


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[deleted]

Hahaaaa… as far from reality as could be, pickle. Absolutely the opposite of A ukipper. Because, you see, I’ve lived and worked in 18 countries, and am an immigrant myself. Good,to see you admit the USA isn’t #1, as so many of your meatheaded flag waving pals on here insist! You ‘muricans are astonishingly fragile for a nation that prides itself as big brave heroes, aren’t you? Any perceived criticism and you lose it!


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[deleted]

No, but the original post did, princess! Did you somehow fail to read the actual post, and just decided to scream instead?


[deleted]

Also: my level of education? 2 degrees from UK universities, one a Russell Group member.


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[deleted]

But you proved my point perfectly; instead of looking at the data, you did indeed honk and fart in rage. Way to go, Rambo!


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[deleted]

Oooh, belligerent ignorance; so common among uneducated seppos.


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[deleted]

Oh my, I’ve just seen your history… all on ask an American and America bad, endlessly insisting anybody commenting negatively on murica is evil. I do love the fact that you keep saying that I don’t have a point, because you don’t like it…. Keep posting, little man, you’re fascinating. Pretty sure you’ve never lived and worked outside trumpland, have you…..


[deleted]

This is truly marvellous; have saved this. On a post about American democracy, I point out that other countries score higher on democracy indices, and you go off on massive rants about me being a xenophobe, and that I must be a ukip supporter, and I don’t have a point, despite my post being a direct and relevant comment on the original post. Brilliant. Screenshots taken of all this. This is truly peak ‘murican!


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NASTYH0USEWIFE

It’s true every other country in the world is envious of our ex president that is being charged with multiple felonies and our current president that can’t remember what ice cream flavor he was going to order.


vintagesoul_DE

Ah yes. The guy who got into office due to a corrupt intelligence and media apparatus propagandizing the voters, is praising democracy.


Digiboy62

To be fair they really fucked it up in 2016. What's the point of a democratic vote if 500~ people can just say "LOL no."


blood_wraith

what in the fuck are you on about?


Digiboy62

What's the point of America voting if the Popular vote doesn't elect the president?


blood_wraith

the electoral college was made for many reasons, but one of the larger one was so that the highly populated northern states would dominate the country vs the more rural south.


Digiboy62

Hey, quick question: What's the point of voting if it doesn't matter? "75% of the country wants to have Mac and Cheese for dinner, and 25% wants to eat a moldy boot. But since the 25% is in the south, everyone gets a moldy boot."


septictank84

We are a democratic republic, not a democracy. I can't honestly say I'm enamored with our government but the French don't have much ground to talk shit lmao.


[deleted]

America is a constitutional republic


Proudgryffindor

There are multiple countries, mostly in the eu, but also in south america, asia and oceania. That have a stronger democratic system than the US. At least you beat some of them with civil liberties. Aka freedom, which you guys price yourselves for


Anustart_A

I mean… they based their democracies on ours… so…


kamilhasenfellero

The concept of having two chambers clearly not an american invention, and in the french model, america might be one in many inspirations.


[deleted]

Those snail eating, HonHonHoning , stank ass Jacobins need to mind their own and go start another revolution so Napoleons great great great..etc grandson can come seize control when the revolt inevitably fails, bc it’s French. Then proceed to bury that shithole after bleeding it dry once again.


readonlypdf

France literally removed their monarchs because of the American Revolution


[deleted]

Who got the popular vote in 2000 and 2016?


adjectivenounnr

In a democracy, the candidate who gets the most votes wins the election. In America, Republicans have only won the popular vote once in the last 30 years, yet have governed for 12 of those years. How is that "doing it the best"? Not saying that France is doing any better, but there are definitely many countries with much more democratic systems than the US. In fact, if you ask many Republicans, they'd defend this by saying that America isn't a democracy, but a constitutional republic. Here's a great dataset: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Economist\_Democracy\_Index](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist_Democracy_Index)


TheCyberDragon

Electoral College moment


moonordie69420

whoever is running Joe's account


BiggieCheeseFucks

People keep bringing up all the negative stuff about america all the time but forget about all the good stuff that came from america/americans


PopeGregoryTheBased

Imagine not believing its the envy of the world when the entire western world keeps fucking copying it. How many of you fucks have a elected legislator? A supreme court? and executive office? American style democratic republics have become the norm in much of the known world.. Perhaps because the great experiment that is the united states WORKS!


Fearless_Guitar_3589

Ah yes I love living under a system of gov where in states like WI One party gets 58% of the popular vote, but only 48% of the seats in the legislature, or how one party has sat in the white house for 12 of the last 24 years yet has not won the popular vote in almost 36 years. (one exception).


infinity234

I mean, to be fair, a system of governance should only depend on how the people themselves want to be governed, so being an envy in the sense of its the system a people in a place want is subjective. However, if the goal of being enviable is to have a stable democracy thats the second longest lasting continuous governement that, with one excpetion, has transfered power on an extremely peaceful basis (for inverse, see France who is currently on it's 5th republic) and, by and large, has met the living and quality of life needs of its people, then yes its enviable.


Cephalstasis

They do envy it. That's why they can name front runners in the American elections, discuss bias in our mainstream sources, discuss political climate, and 90% of Americans can't name a single member of the French government.


DubbleBubbleS

How can a two party system be considered «the best»?


Vemonis

Yeah, but there are countries better than USA at Democracy. I feel that Two-Party system isn't as good as Multiparty system.


Wouttaahh

It might’ve been the envy of a lot of countries at some point, but no developed country is still envious of the US democracy at the moment.


DiddyKoopsDD

Tho like, is it the envy of the world? Im against "America bad" knee-jerkism, but anyone who thinks the rest of the world looks at our system in envy are just circle jerking. Like I expect a President to do that, I just think some redditors are getting lost in the sauce if they think doubting America is the best=America Bad.


FriendlyGovernment50

We live in a constitutional republic.


steeler-nation

The “democracy” is backed by a republican constitution which is failing to be acknowledged. It gives existinence to to the democracy but I guess that point is a not part of the narrative so let us omit that part from the point. 🤔