mjk@tty3b.UUCP (Mike Kelly) (01/27/84)
Jim R Oldroyd writes in <150@taurus.UUCP>: "Many european governments are going ahead with the deployment of american nuclear missiles against the overwhelming wishes of the majority of the people in their countries ... What happened to the idea of democracy?" One must also wonder what happened to democracy in the U.S., where virtually every military adventure undertaken by the Reagan government has been faced with public opposition. Between 60% and 80% of the American people have consistently opposed the intervention in Central America. A similar number opposes the presence in Lebanon. Only the invasion of Grenada has managed to achieve anything resembling public support, and that can be largely attributed to the blitzkrieg nature of the invasion: the Marines had occupied the island before most of the U.S. press was even allowed in to find out what was going on. The isolation of the Reagan Administration is just as clear on nuclear policy. About 80% of the American people support the nuclear freeze; Reagan opposes it. About half think that military spending is too high; Reagan wants to increase it another 14% next year. One must wonder how long a government can continue to oppose basic demands of its people and continue to remain in power. That question will be answered in the United States, at least, over the next nine months. Mike Kelly ..!ihnp4!tty3b!mjk
judd@umcp-cs.UUCP (02/01/84)
...
Not wanting to sound hostile but just were do you get these figures??
Judd Rogers,
--
Spoken: Judd Rogers
Arpa: judd.umcp-cs@CSNet-relay
Uucp:...{allegra,seismo}!umcp-cs!juddrenner@uiucdcs.UUCP (renner ) (02/07/84)
#R:tty3b:-29200:uiucdcs:29200076:000:381
uiucdcs!renner Feb 6 16:31:00 1984
These questions of "whatever happened to democracy in America" are
really kind of silly. The United States has never operated on a
democratic basis in the sense that these people mean. We elect
representatives who make policy decisions for us. Under this system,
we can hardly expect that every policy will be approved by a majority.
Scott Renner
{ihnp4,pur-ee}!uiucdcs!renneral@ames-lm.UUCP (Al Globus) (02/13/84)
Reagan may not be in tune with us groovy folks, but I suspect most of the country backs him most of the time. We'll find out in November.