Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluegrassplayer
I'm sure you guys would be saying the same thing if Trump made him god-emperor.
"Whelp, legally elected. That's just how it works."
Hm no, did you read the part about the constitution? that's what defines what's legal or not in every democracy, and literally the totality of the outcomes the constitution allows are democratic (by definition) , but those don't include being "god-emperor", in the USA.
Legally elected, and it can use it's constitutional powers in literally any way that doesn't violate the constitution itself, and when he does no matter what he does inside that range of possibility, it's always democratic for him to do that.
Can't go like "i dislike this law because it's effects imho are bad on MY IDEA OF WHAT A COUNTRY SHOULD LOOK LIKE", so this law is "anti-democratic".
That's not how it works.
This law re foreign agents is disliked by many georgians because they know it blocks access to the EU. That's it. No end of democracy or anything else.
And they can vote different parties very soon and cancel the law, which would be normal in a democracy, which they are.
We should not abuse the notion of democracy dying to criticize laws we dislike , because then we lose the moral standing to discuss actual violations of democratic norms, when they happen.
For ex it's plausible than in Georgia anti-democratic events were or are happening, like bullshit prosecution of opposition leaders (which afaik stopped recently, in order to start EU access path).
But this foreign agent registration law isn't anti-democratic, and many democratic countries have similar laws. It's just that some international leftists hate the idea of being limited or monitored in the amount of influence they are allowed to have in foreign countries and as usual, for the left anythign that damages the left is anti-democratic. But i don't fall for that definition of democracy, that according to which when the people vote "wrong" (ie not on the left, or not according to the left wishes) then it's antidemocratic.