As a proponent of democracy, I recently asked what democracy really means.
In my view, three simple attributes characterize it.
1) Peaceful transfer of power.
2) Term limit.
3) Periodic revisions and amendments of laws.
The authority to implement these provisions of democracy rests with the majority of the concerned population.
With its written constitution and three branches of government, the US has been projected across the world as a model for democratic governance in recent times.
Historians have documented that American democracy hinges on ancient Greek’s democracy that gave birth to its Classical Civilization.
If so, American democracy has been standing on the shoulders of ancient Greek’s democracy.
This much may be considered a common knowledge among social science scholars.
What have been intriguing me more ever since I asked that simple question about democracy are more of the shoulders on which the US has been standing.
As a student of science, I remembered some of the great scientists like Archimedes, Galileo, Newton, and Einstein. All of them became scientists outside the US.
This means American science stands on the shoulders of scientists who were brought up outside the US.
The Wright Brothers invented aviation on the shoulders of Da Vinci’s Flying Machine concept as well as the wheel, which was invented millennia ago far from the US. If the Wright Brothers plane couldn’t roll on the ground, it couldn’t take off the ground.
In my understanding, if not all planes, most planes around the world use the wheel to take off, land, or stand idle.
Considered one of the greatest inventions in the history of humankind, the wheel stands for great mobility all around the world.
Its Printing Press stands on the shoulders of the invention of ancient Egypt’s Hieroglyphics.
Its Motion Picture stands on the shoulders of the French inventor who disappeared mysteriously.
I recently read that its computer science stands on the shoulders of the German inventor of the Enigma Box, initially for business.
I would be the first to admit that my list here is based on perfunctory reading and stand to be corrected if I misread anything about them.
I am also a student of concepts and like many others, concepts tend to stick with me.
By chance, I once came across a short primary letter by Thomas Jefferson, which became a window for me into his thinking processes.
I also read that he was the brain behind hinging US democracy on ancient Greek’s democracy.
So, as a student of concepts, if Thomas Jefferson said Athenian democracy, Martin Bernal said Black Athena, and a National Science Foundation funded study concluded that ancient Greek’s seafarers learned about democracy elsewhere before the debate about it was started there. there must be a missing link in Jefferson’s study of ancient Greek’s democracy.
America’s Civil War has made that missing link abundantly clear.
The symptoms of that missing link continue to be substantive, at least in my view.
Take the US Senate for example. Each State has two Senators, which makes the total of US Senators 100. Because of this simple figure, the legislative branch is not fully independent of the executive branch because of the tie breaking provision.
One of the provisions among those who are likely to have invented democracy and practiced it orally is to use odd numbers to form a committee in order to avoid vote ties.
Is it possible if the Thomas Jeffersons of America had studied this simple concept, they would opt for three Senators for each State and make the legislative branch fully independent of the executive branch?
Is it possible that with this simple provision, they could make the division between Blue States and Red States more balanced?
Among those who may have invented democracy, ሱንሱመ, a traditional stove with three legs or pillars is a symbol for optimal stability. This is also an ancient invention for stability like the wheel was for mobility.
In this era, they function as robustly as they did starting in ancient era.
In my limited study, ሴረ ቱማ, or making laws gave birth to democracy in ancient times.
In the eve of the year 2024, the third branch of the US government is poised to arbiter if anyone in the US is above the law.
In an established democracy, no one, not the President or former President, not the richest man in the land, whether it is Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, or Elon Musk, not the Director of the CIA, not the Director of the FBI, or anybody else is above the law.
Above the law defies the definition of democracy.
So, the US that is yet to arbiter if anyone is above the law a patchwork that has been standing on the shoulders of Africa and the rest of the world or not?
Has the US been standing on the shoulders of Africa and the rest of the world?
Last edited by Naga Tuma on 29 Dec 2023, 16:39, edited 3 times in total.
Re: Has the US been standing on the shoulders of Africa and the rest of the world?
The idea that I, a person of humble circumstances, and a billionaire, are equal merely because every now and then I am allowed to cast a vote, is the most ridiculous aspect of what they call the democratic system. The system is rigged as Trump likes to remind everyone. That is why Hunter Biden is still free while millions of black kids are rotting in jails because of minor drug or gun-related infractions! 