*facepalms*

[kyburg]

A veteran politician, Clinton compared the complex European political environment to that of the two-party U.S. system, before adding:

"I have never understood multiparty democracy.

"It is hard enough with two parties to come to any resolution, and I say this very respectfully, because I feel the same way about our own democracy, which has been around a lot longer than European democracy."

The remark provoked much headshaking in the parliament of a bloc that likes to trace back its democratic tradition thousands of years to the days of classical Greece.

I seriously need a FACEPALM MOMENT icon. The Swiss are probably just going 'same Americans, different day.' If they're in the mood to.

Take a look at the picture going along with:



Madeline Albright much?

Oh yeah, we got the right one in the Oval Office baby - uh huh.

How much did Bush/Rice put us in the hole? Would you believe even with THIS amount of fail, they still had to put in overflow seating when she showed up?

Jeez, Hillary - get some SLEEP.

Comments

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

I've never quite understood people's frame of reference when they call the US the world's oldest democracy, and I've heard it quite often.

[musicalchaos.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear lord. *shakes head and sighs* I am happier than ever that Barack got the democratic nod over her, after this gaffe. Yes, everyone makes mistakes, and I've bungled a hell of a lot myself, but wow. Just wow. This is most certainly an open mouth, insert foot moment for her.

[browren.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I think it's actually kind of dependent on how she meant "democracy." IIRC, there weren't any democratic republics in Europe in 1776 when the US government was formed - Europe was still run by monarchies, though they had parliamentary legislative branches with various levels of real power. We're only talking maybe a decade before the EU got the democracy bug, though, so it's still facepalm-worthy.

Of course, since none of these countries are really a true democracy anyway, the whole thing's kind of a moot point. :P

[magaliiiii.livejournal.com]

uh, well, the US democratic system IS older than most if not all european democracies. since they were all monarchies until at least a decade after we were formed as a nation.

[magaliiiii.livejournal.com]

hah, or i could have read the comment before me and just replied to that

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Uh, Switzerland 1291?

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Erg. 1291?

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

And go marching. Yeah, that.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

It's classic American ethnocentricity. Honest.

[magaliiiii.livejournal.com]

while i knew what you were referring to in your post, i still say her comment stands; the swiss are not the entirety of europe, and in fact the rest of europe rejected those ideals for years and years. the us is the entirety of the us. so she's saying american democracy has been around since america's founding, whereas european democracy as we know it today was not around til the very late 1700s/early-to-mid 1800s at its earliest.

[glowing-fish.livejournal.com]

How many countries can you name that are older, continuous democracies than the United States?

[glowing-fish.livejournal.com]

And many countries in Europe are still not democracies. AFAIK, the UK, Spain and most or all of Scandinavia are not democracies.

[magaliiiii.livejournal.com]

yea exactly. so it's hard to talk about 'european' anything because of their crazy diversity.

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

Depends on the definition of 'real democracy'. Would you consider the Brits as a democracy, and when did they start?

See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Althing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

That's one of the things I thought of, but there's the Napoleonic period (last time someone took over the place. About the same time, there was a disruption on the Althing in Iceland for a few decades. I can't say about San Marino, but that's the other one I can think of.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_San_Marino

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

The Swiss would argue over 700 years - the actual form has varied, but they never were a monarchy.

And one could equally argue WE aren't one yet.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

"Since you can't get your act together, I shall do it for you." - Napoleon.

They finally settled on a form based on indigeous Americans. Yeah, they liked what the Navaho council of elders did and such. *laughs*

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

But are WE even a democracy? There's a bunch of people very quick to say we're a democratic republic...and that's all.

[browren.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's kind of what I meant to imply with the last bit of my comment - the USA isn't really a true democracy either, so the whole "my democracy is bigger than yours" thing is kind of a waste. :)

[rin-o.livejournal.com]

that was......well, it was dumb as hell. i can't believe she goofed that big, and twice if we're counting the russian thing.

[miwasatoshi.livejournal.com]

Yay for political pissing contests?

Okay, not really. :3

At least none of you were born in a banana "republic" like I was. ;)

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Dude, you just got your degree - you can see how this could be a real discussion, neh? Anyone with a few watts in the pot and some exposure would know what a fotch that was. (And then the fun begins, right?)

(And poor Mags - she's still in the throes of it.)

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

I can. And boy, I'm not impressed.