DEFEAT CAPITALISM AND ITS DEADLY SPAWN, IMPERIALISM
ecological murder • endless wars • ingrained racism & social injustice • worker exploitation • incurable via reforms
Eric Zuesse
[translate]
The preamble to a nation’s Constitution states the ultimate goal that that nation’s — the Constitution’s — writers, their Constitution (the country’s Founders’ Constitution), aims for; and, in any authentic democracy (if it IS a democratic Constitution), that nation’s Supreme Court is obligated to interpret ALL laws (the Constitutionality or NOT, of all laws), not ONLY by every clause in the Constitution, but ESPECIALLY by the ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE that the Founders stated: the Constitution’s Preamble. Here is the Preamble to Russia’s Constitution (also seen here):
We, the multinational people of the Russian Federation, united by a common fate on our land, establishing human rights and freedoms, civic peace and accord, preserving the historically established state unity, proceeding from the universally recognized principles of equality and self-determination of peoples, revering the memory of ancestors who have conveyed to us the love for the Fatherland, belief in the good and justice, reviving the sovereign statehood of Russia and asserting the firmness of its democratic basic, striving to ensure the well-being and prosperity of Russia, proceeding from the responsibility for our Fatherland before the present and future generations, recognizing ourselves as part of the world community, adopt the CONSTITUTION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION.
The next-most-important clauses are the first ones; here are the first two:
Article 1
The Russian Federation - Russia is a democratic federal law-bound State with a republican form of government.
The names "Russian Federation" and "Russia" shall be equal.
Article 2
Man, his rights and freedoms are the supreme value. The recognition, observance and protection of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen shall be the obligation of the State.
Moreover:
Article 14
1. The Russian Federation is a secular state. No religion may be established as a state or obligatory one.
2. Religious associations shall be separated from the State and shall be equal before the law.
Article 15
1. The Constitution of the Russian Federation shall have the supreme juridical force, direct action and shall be used on the whole territory of the Russian Federation. Laws and other legal acts adopted in the Russian Federation shall not contradict the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
So: the authors of Russia’s Government stated clearly the non-participation of religious organizations in the decisions concerning the Constitutionality or not of a law in Russia.
Furthermore:
Article 19
1. All people shall be equal before the law and court.
2. The State shall guarantee the equality of rights and freedoms of man and citizen, regardless of sex, race, nationality, language, origin, property and official status, place of residence, religion, convictions, membership of public associations, and also of other circumstances. All forms of limitations of human rights on social, racial, national, linguistic or religious grounds shall be banned.
3. Man and woman shall enjoy equal rights and freedoms and have equal possibilities to exercise them. …
Article 24
1. The collection, keeping, use and dissemination of information about the private life of a person shall not be allowed without his or her consent. …
Article 28
Everyone shall be guaranteed the freedom of conscience, the freedom of religion, including the right to profess individually or together with others any religion or to profess no religion at all, to freely choose, possess and disseminate religious and other views and act according to them.
Article 29
1. Everyone shall be guaranteed the freedom of ideas and speech.
2. The propaganda or agitation instigating social, racial, national or religious hatred and strife shall not be allowed. The propaganda of social, racial, national, religious or linguistic supremacy shall be banned. …
Article 55
2. In the Russian Federation no laws may be adopted which abolish or diminish human and civil rights and freedoms.
HERE ARE RELEVANT EXAMPLES FROM SOME OTHER EUROPEAN NATIONS’ CONSTITUTIONS:
Article 36
The federal legislative power is exercised jointly by the King, the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Article 37
The federal executive power, as regulated by the Constitution, belongs to the King.
Article 40
Judiciary power is exercised by the courts.
Court decisions are executed in the name of the King.
Article 46
The King has the right to dissolve the House of Representatives only if the latter, with the absolute majority of its members:
1°. either rejects a motion of confidence in the Federal Government and does not propose to the King, within three days of the day of the rejection of the motion, the appointment of a successor to the prime minister;
2°. or adopts a motion of no confidence with regard to the Federal Government and does not simultaneously propose to the King the appointment of a successor to the prime minister.
Article 50
Any member of either House appointed by the King as minister and who accepts this appointment ceases to sit in Parliament and takes up his mandate again when the King has terminated his office as minister. The law determines the rules for his replacement in the House concerned.
Article 74
As a departure from Article 36, federal legislative power is jointly exercised by the King and by the House of Representatives for other matters than those described in Articles
77 and 78.
Article 85
The constitutional powers of the King are hereditary through the direct, natural and legitimate descent from H.M. Leopold, George, Christian, Frederick of Saxe-Coburg, by order of primogeniture.
The descendant mentioned in the first paragraph who marries without the King’s consent or, in his absence, without the consent of those exercising the King's powers in cases provided for by the Constitution shall be deprived of his right to the crown. Nonetheless, this right may be restored by the King or, in his absence, by those exercising the powers of the King in cases provided for by the Constitution, but only with the assent of both Houses.
Article 96
The King appoints and dismisses his ministers.
The Federal Government offers its resignation to the King if the House of Representatives, by an absolute majority of its members, adopts a motion of no confidence proposing a successor to the prime minister for appointment by the King or proposes a successor to the prime minister for appointment by the King within three days of the rejection of a motion of confidence. The King appoints the proposed successor as prime minister, who takes office when the new Federal Government is sworn in.
Article 100
Ministers have access to both Houses and must be heard whenever they so request.
The House of Representatives may require the presence of ministers. The Senate may require their presence for the matters in Article 77 or 78. For other matters, it may request their presence.
Article 104
The King appoints and dismisses the federal secretaries of State.
These are members of the Federal Government. They do not form part of the Council of Ministers. They are deputies to a minister.
Article 106
No act of the King can take effect without the countersignature of a minister, who, in doing so, assumes responsibility for it.
Article 107
The King bestows ranks within the army.
He appoints civil servants to positions in the general and foreign affairs administrations of the State, but for those exceptions created by the laws.
He makes appointments to other positions only by virtue of specific legal provisions.
Article 108
The King makes decrees and regulations required for the execution of laws, without ever having the power either to suspend the laws themselves or to grant dispensation from their execution.
Article 109
The King sanctions and promulgates laws.
PART I
This Constitution Act shall apply to all parts of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The form of government shall be that of a constitutional monarchy. The Royal Power shall be inherited by men and women in accordance with the provisions of the Succession to the Throne Act, 27th March, 1953.
The legislative power shall be vested in the King and the Folketing conjointly. The executive power shall be vested in the King. The judicial power shall be vested in the courts of justice.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church shall be the Established Church of Denmark, and) as such, it shall be supported by the State.
PART II
The King shall not reign in other countries except with the consent of the Folketing.
The King shall be a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
PREAMBLE
Conscious of their responsibility before God and man, Inspired by the determination to promote world peace as an equal partner in a united Europe, the German people, in the exercise of their constituent power, have adopted this Basic Law.
Article 4. [Freedom of faith and conscience]
Freedom of faith and of conscience, and freedom to profess a religious or philosophical creed, shall be inviolable.
The undisturbed practice of religion shall be guaranteed.
Article 7. [School system]
The entire school system shall be under the supervision of the state.
Parents and guardians shall have the right to decide whether children shall receive religious instruction.
Religious instruction shall form part of the regular curriculum in state schools, with the exception of non-denominational schools.
Article 6. [Marriage - Family - Children]
5. A private elementary school shall be approved only if the educational authority finds that it serves a special pedagogical interest or if, on the application of parents or guardians, it is to be established as a denominational or interdenominational school or as a school based on a particular philosophy and no state elementary school of that type exists in the municipality.
Article 66. [Incompatibilities]
Neither the Federal Chancellor nor a Federal Minister may hold any other salaried office, or engage in any trade or profession, or belong to the management or, without the consent of the Bundestag, to the supervisory board of an enterprise conducted for profit.
Article 71. [Exclusive legislative power of the Federation]
3. If the Federation has made use of its power to legislate, the Länder may enact laws at variance with this legislation with respect to:
hunting (except for the law on hunting licenses);
protection of nature and landscape management (except for the general principles governing the protection of nature, the law on protection of plant and animal species or the law on protection of marine life);
land distribution;
regional planning;
management of water resources (except for regulations related to materials or facilities);
admission to institutions of higher education and requirements for graduation in such institutions.
HUNGARY: (Regrettably, this document was the work of dedicated anti-communists.—Ed)
PREAMBLE
God bless the Hungarians
NATIONAL AVOWAL
WE, THE MEMBERS OF THE HUNGARIAN NATION, at the beginning of the new millennium, with a sense of responsibility for every Hungarian, hereby proclaim the following:
We are proud that our king Saint Stephen built the Hungarian State on solid ground and made our country a part of Christian Europe one thousand years ago.
We are proud of our forebears who fought for the survival, freedom and independence of our country.
We are proud of the outstanding intellectual achievements of the Hungarian people.
We are proud that our people has over the centuries defended Europe in a series of struggles and enriched Europe’s common values with its talent and diligence.
We recognise the role of Christianity in preserving nationhood. We value the various religious traditions of our country.
We promise to preserve the intellectual and spiritual unity of our nation torn apart in the storms of the last century.
We proclaim that the nationalities living with us form part of the Hungarian political community and are constituent parts of the State.
We commit to promoting and safeguarding our heritage, our unique language, Hungarian culture, the languages and cultures of nationalities living in Hungary, along with all man-made and natural assets of the Carpathian Basin. We bear responsibility for our descendants; therefore we shall protect the living conditions of future generations by making prudent use of our material, intellectual and natural resources.
We believe that our national culture is a rich contribution to the diversity of European unity.
We respect the freedom and culture of other nations, and shall strive to cooperate with every nation of the world.
We hold that human existence is based on human dignity.
We hold that individual freedom can only be complete in cooperation with others.
We hold that the family and the nation constitute the principal framework of our coexistence, and that our fundamental cohesive values are fidelity, faith and love.
We hold that the strength of community and the honour of each man are based on labour, an achievement of the human mind.
We hold that we have a general duty to help the vulnerable and the poor.
We hold that the common goal of citizens and the State is to achieve the highest possible measure of well-being, safety, order, justice and liberty.
We hold that democracy is only possible where the State serves its citizens and administers their affairs in an equitable manner, without prejudice or abuse.
We honour the achievements of our historical constitution and we honour the Holy Crown, which embodies the constitutional continuity of Hungary’s statehood and the unity of the nation.
We do not recognise the suspension of our historical constitution due to foreign occupations. We deny any statute of limitations for the inhuman crimes committed against the Hungarian nation and its citizens under the national socialist and the communist dictatorships. (sic)
We do not recognise the communist constitution of 1949, since it was the basis for tyrannical rule; therefore we proclaim it to be invalid.
We agree with the members of the first free National Assembly, which proclaimed as its first decision that our current liberty was born of our 1956 Revolution.
We date the restoration of our country’s self-determination, lost on the nineteenth day of March 1944, from the second day of May 1990, when the first freely elected body of popular representation was formed. We shall consider this date to be the beginning of our country’s new democracy and constitutional order.
We hold that after the decades of the twentieth century which led to a state of moral decay, we have an abiding need for spiritual and intellectual renewal.
We trust in a jointly-shaped future and the commitment of younger generations. We believe that our children and grandchildren will make Hungary great again with their talent, persistence and moral strength.
Our Fundamental Law shall be the basis of our legal order, it shall be an alliance among Hungarians of the past, present and future. It is a living framework which expresses the nation’s will and the form in which we want to live.
We, the citizens of Hungary, are ready to found the order of our country upon the common endeavours of the nation.
CHAPTER 2. GOVERNMENT
§1. The King
Article 24
The title to the Throne shall be hereditary and shall vest in the legitimate descendants of King William I, Prince of Orange-Nassau.
Article 25
On the death of the King, the title to the Throne shall pass by hereditary succession to the King's legitimate descendants in order of seniority, the same rule governing succession by the issue of descendants who predecease the King. If the King has no descendants, the title to the Throne shall pass in the same way to the legitimate descendants of the King's parent and then of his grandparent who are in the line of succession but are not further removed from the deceased King than the third degree of consanguinity.
§2. The King and the Ministers
Article 42
The Government shall comprise the King and the Ministers.
The Ministers, and not the King, shall be responsible for acts of government.
Article 43
The Prime Minister and the other Ministers shall be appointed and dismissed by Royal Decree.
Article 44
Ministries shall be established by Royal Decree. They shall be headed by a Minister.
Non-departmental Ministers may also be appointed.
Article 45
The Ministers shall together constitute the Cabinet.
The Prime Minister shall chair the Cabinet.
The Cabinet shall consider and decide upon overall government policy and shall promote the coherence thereof.
Article 46
State Secretaries may be appointed and dismissed by Royal Decree.
A State Secretary shall act with ministerial authority in place of the Minister in cases in which the Minister considers it
necessary; the State Secretary shall observe the Minister's instructions in such cases. Responsibility shall rest with the State Secretary without prejudice to the responsibility of the Minister.
Article 47
All Acts of Parliament and Royal Decrees shall be signed by the King and by one or more Ministers or State Secretaries.
Article 48
The Royal Decree appointing the Prime Minister shall be countersigned by the latter. Royal Decrees appointing or dismissing Ministers and State Secretaries shall be countersigned by the Prime Minister.
Article 49
Upon accepting office Ministers and State Secretaries shall swear an oath or make an affirmation and promise in the presence of the King, in the manner prescribed by Act of Parliament, that they have not done anything which may legally debar them from holding office, and shall also swear or promise allegiance to the Constitution and that they will faithfully discharge their duties.
A FORM OF GOVERNMENT AND RELIGION
Article 1
The Kingdom of Norway is a free, independent, indivisible and inalienable Realm. Its form of government is a limited and hereditary monarchy.
Article 2
Our values will remain our Christian and humanistic heritage. This Constitution shall ensure democracy, a state based on the rule of law and human rights.
B. THE EXECUTIVE POWER, THE KING, THE ROYAL FAMILY AND RELIGION
Article 3
The Executive Power is vested in the King, or in the Queen if she has succeeded to the Crown pursuant to the provisions of Article 6 or Article 7 or Article 48 of this Constitution. When the Executive Power is thus vested in the Queen, she has all the rights and obligations which pursuant to this Constitution and the Law of the Land are possessed by the King.
Article 4
The King shall at all times profess the Evangelical-Lutheran religion.
Article 5
The King's person is sacred; he cannot be censured or accused. The responsibility rests with his Council.
Article 6
The order of succession is lineal, so that only a child born in lawful wedlock of the Queen or King, or of one who is herself or himself entitled to the succession may succeed, and so that the nearest line shall take precedence over the more remote and the elder in the line over the younger.
Article 12
The King himself chooses a Council from among Norwegian citizens who are entitled to vote. This Council shall consist of a Prime Minister and at least seven other Members.
The King apportions the business among the Members of the Council of State, as he deems appropriate. Under extraordinary circumstances, besides the ordinary Members of the Council of State, the King may summon other Norwegian citizens, although no Members of the Storting, to take a seat in the Council of State.
Husband and wife, parent and child or two siblings may never sit at the same time in the Council of State.
Article 13
During his travels within the Realm, the King may delegate the administration of the Realm to the Council of State. The Council of State shall conduct the government in the King's name and on his behalf. It shall scrupulously observe the provisions of this Constitution, as well as such particular directives in conformity therewith as the King may instruct.
The matters of business shall be decided by voting, where in the event of the votes being equal, the Prime Minister, or in his absence the highest-ranking Member of the Council of State who is present, shall have two votes.
The Council of State shall make a report to the King on matters of business which it thus decides.
Article 14
The King may appoint State Secretaries to assist Members of the Council of State with their duties outside the Council of State. Each State Secretary shall act on behalf of the Member of the Council of State to whom he is attached to the extent determined by that Member.
Article 15
Any person who holds a seat in the Council of State has the duty to submit his application to resign once the Storting has passed a vote of no confidence against that Member of the Council of State or against the Council of State as a whole.
The King is bound to grant such an application to resign.
Once the Storting has passed a vote of no confidence, only such business may be conducted as is required for the proper discharge of duties.
Article 16
All inhabitants of the Realm shall have the right to free exercise of their religion.
The Norwegian church, an Evangelical-Lutheran church, shall remain the Norwegian National Church and will as such be supported by the State. Detailed provisions as to its system shall be laid down by law. All religious and philosophical communities were to be supported on an equal footing.
Article 17
The King may issue and repeal ordinances relating to commerce, customs, all livelihoods and the police, although these must not conflict with the Constitution or with the laws passed by the Storting (as hereinafter prescribed in Articles 76, 77, 78 and 79). They shall remain in force provisionally until the next Storting.
Article 21
The King shall choose and appoint, after consultation with his Council of State all senior civil and military officials. Before the appointment is made, such officials shall swear or, if by law exempted from taking the oath, solemnly declare obedience and allegiance to the Constitution and the King, although senior officials who are not Norwegian nationals may by law be exempted from this duty. The Royal Princes must not hold senior civil offices.
Article 22
The Prime Minister and the other Members of the Council of State, together with the State Secretaries, may be dismissed by the King without any prior court judgment, after he has heard the opinion of the Council of State on the subject. The same applies to senior officials employed in the Council of State offices or in the diplomatic or consular service, the highest-ranking civil officials, commanders of regiments and other military formations, commandants of forts and commanders-in-chief warships. Whether pensions should be granted to senior officials thus dismissed shall be determined by the next Storting. In the interval they shall receive two thirds of their previous pay.
Other senior officials may only be suspended by the King, and must then without delay be charged before the Courts, but they may not, except by court judgment, be dismissed nor, against their will, transferred.
All senior officials may, without a prior court judgment, be discharged from office upon attaining the statutory age limit.
Article 25
The King is Commander-in-Chief of the land and naval forces of the Realm. These forces may not be increased or reduced without the consent of the Storting. They may not be transferred to the service of foreign powers, nor may the military forces of any foreign power, except auxiliary forces assisting against hostile attack, be brought into the Realm without the consent of the Storting.
The territorial army and the other troops which cannot be classed as troops of the line must never, without the consent of the Storting, be employed outside the borders of the Realm.
Article 26
The King has the right to call up troops, to engage in hostilities in defence of the Realm and to make peace, to conclude and denounce conventions, to send and to receive diplomatic envoys.
Treaties on matters of special importance, and, in all cases, treaties whose implementation, according to the Constitution, necessitates a new law or a decision by the Storting, are not binding until the Storting has given its consent thereto.
Article 27
All Members of the Council of State shall, unless lawfully absent, attend the Council of State and no decision may be adopted there unless more than half the number of members are present.
Article 30
All the proceedings of the Council of State shall be entered in its records. Diplomatic matters which the Council of State decides to keep secret shall be entered in a special record. The same applies to military command matters which the Council of State decides to keep secret.
Everyone who has a seat in the Council of State has the duty frankly to express his opinion, to which the King is bound to listen. But it rests with the King to make a decision according to his own judgment.
Article 41
If the King is absent from the Realm unless commanding in the field, or if he is so ill that he cannot attend to the government, the person next entitled to succeed to the Throne shall, provided that he has attained the age stipulated for the King's majority, conduct the government as the temporary executor of the Royal Powers. If this is not the case, the Council of State will conduct the administration of the Realm.
Article 44
The Princess or Prince who, in the cases mentioned in Article 41, conducts the government shall make the following oath in writing before the Storting:
"I promise and swear that I will conduct the government in accordance with the Constitution and the Laws, so help me God, the Almighty and Omniscient”.
Article 49
The people exercise the Legislative Power through the Storting.
Representatives to the Storting are elected through free elections and secret ballot.
PREAMBLE
Having regard for the existence and future of our Homeland,
Which recovered, in 1989, the possibility of a sovereign and democratic determination of its fate,
We, the Polish Nation - all citizens of the Republic,
Both those who believe in God as the source of truth, justice, good and beauty,
As well as those not sharing such faith but respecting those universal values as arising from other sources,
Equal in rights and obligations towards the common good - Poland,
Beholden to our ancestors for their labours, their struggle for independence achieved at great sacrifice, for our culture rooted in the Christian heritage of the Nation and in universal human values,
Recalling the best traditions of the First and the Second Republic,
Obliged to bequeath to future generations all that is valuable from our over one thousand years' heritage,
Bound in community with our compatriots dispersed throughout the world,
Aware of the need for cooperation with all countries for the good of the Human Family,
Mindful of the bitter experiences of the times when fundamental freedoms and human rights were violated in our Homeland,
Desiring to guarantee the rights of the citizens for all time, and to ensure diligence and efficiency in the work of public bodies,
Recognizing our responsibility before God or our own consciences,
Hereby establish this Constitution of the Republic of Poland as the basic law for the State, based on respect for freedom and justice, cooperation between the public powers, social dialogue as well as on the principle of aiding in the strengthening the powers of citizens and their communities.
We call upon all those who will apply this Constitution for the good of the Third Republic to do so paying respect to the inherent dignity of the person, his or her right to freedom, the obligation of solidarity with others, and respect for these principles as the unshakeable foundation of the Republic of Poland.
CHAPTER I. THE REPUBLIC
Article 1
The Republic of Poland shall be the common good of all its citizens.
Article 2
The Republic of Poland shall be a democratic state ruled by law and implementing the principles of social justice.
PREAMBLE
We, the Slovak nation,
bearing in mind the political and cultural heritage of our ancestors and the centuries of experience from the struggles for national existence and our own statehood,
mindful of the spiritual heritage of Cyril and Methodius and the historical legacy of Great Moravia,
recognizing the natural right of nations to self-determination,
together with members of national minorities and ethnic groups living on the territory of the Slovak Republic,
in the interest of lasting peaceful cooperation with other democratic states,
seeking the application of the democratic form of government, guarantees of a free life, development of spiritual culture and economic prosperity,
that is, we, the citizens of the Slovak Republic,
adopt through our representatives this Constitution:
CHAPTER ONE
Part One. Basic Provisions
Article 1
The Slovak Republic is a sovereign, democratic state governed by the rule of law. It is not linked to any ideology, nor religion.
The Slovak Republic recognizes and honors general rules of international law, international treaties by which it is bound and its other international obligations.
Article 2
State power originates from citizens, who exercise it through their elected representatives, or directly.
State bodies may act only on the basis of the Constitution, within its limits, and to the extent and in a manner which shall be laid down by law.
Everyone may do what is not prohibited by law and no one may be forced to do anything that is not prescribed by law.
On 31 October 2018, one such study was published:
“Big Money — Not Political Tribalism — Drives US Elections”
31 October 2018, By Thomas Ferguson, Paul Jorgensen, and Jie Chen
Big Money—Not Political Tribalism—Drives US Elections
By Thomas Ferguson, Paul Jorgensen, and Jie Chen
2016 elections
31 October 2018, OCT 31, 2018
https://archive.is/HnJLg#selection-1773.0-1842.0
Percent of Original Money from Top 400 Donors & Top .01% of Donors
DONOR PERCENT AMOUNT
Top 400 Donors % 29.86 $2,446,370,446.62
Top .01% % 57.16 $4,682,337,094.94
So: a solid majority of political donations in the U.S. come from the richest one-hundredth of one percent (the “Top .01%”) of the American people.
Prior, a landmark study had already been published in 2014, which I reported about on 14 April 2014 (before the study’s publication later that year) under the headline “US Is an Oligarchy, Not a Democracy, Says Scientific Study”. On that basis, I headlined on 3 August 2015, “Jimmy Carter Is Correct That the U.S. Is No Longer a Democracy”. The best simple summary of that landmark study is a video that was uploaded to youtube on 30 April 2015 and titled, appropriately, “Corruption is Legal in America”. So, even though America has one of the world’s most democratic Constitutions, America is also the world’s ONLY country that has been scientifically studied in such depth and with such rigor so that it has been actually proven by the relevant empirical data to BE a dictatorship — an aristocracy (rule by the extreme richest) — and so NOT a democracy. Having a (largely) democratic Constitution isn’t enough if that Constitution is routinely being violated in actual practice.
The subsequent finding that the Top 400 Donors give 29.86% of America’s political donations, and the Top .01% give 57.16% of America’s political donations, is entirely consistent with the proven fact that America is ruled by corruption: that DESPITE ITS HAVING A RATHER DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTION, America is an aristocracy not a democracy.
The same thing (a democratic Constitution but dictatorial reality) might be true regarding Russia, but it hasn’t been studied nearly in such depth as America; and, so, whether or not Russia is ACTUALLY a democracy isn’t yet known.
Nonetheless, when I issued a few days ago on December 8th an article “Why America Aims to Deindustrialize Europe” and it was discussed at Reddit dot com, the reader comments there were overwhelmingly hostile toward it because the article pointed out that Russia has one of Europe’s most democratic Constitutions: here were the openers of that comments-string [Reddit audiences are overwhelmingly young and libertarian.—Ed]:
nuraghes016
"...Russia’s adopting a democratic Constitution — a Constitution far more democratic than almost any in Europe..." LOL!
GeneralPelle
I stopped reading at this point. Funny how the first sentence says: „you’ve to read this article slowly“. I read that sentence really slow. And then again. And then I feel of the chair laughing.
MotorPain6205
Have you READ the Russian Constitution? Or are you instead responding on the basis of your false assumptions about it?
Who cares how democratic the Russian constitution is on paper if the Russians don’t follow it in practice?
GeneralPelle
No I didn’t read it, and if it’s soooo democratic, I guess the current Russian government also didn’t read it. Heck, probably the author of OPs article didn’t read it after receiving his Wodka founds.
But since you read it, why you are not enlightening us? Tell us how great Russia is, what an shining light it is compared to all these „green-woke-so-called-democracy-nazi-EU-countries“.
Apparently, almost NONE of the (now 56) commentators had so much as clicked onto the phrase in my article which had sparked all of this discussion at Reddit, which phrase was only a sub-clause in this sentence there, and which sub-clause I here shall boldface so that you can see what it was:
Military bases continued to be the top (#1) U.S. priority, despite the end of the Soviet threat and Russia’s adopting a democratic Constitution — a Constitution far more democratic than almost any in Europe — and this continued U.S. European military alliance, NATO, demonstrated, and actually proved, that America is imperialistic and had come to be the world’s dominant empire after the Soviet Union’s end.
Well, by now, at least the readers HERE will be able to evaluate whether or not those Reddit-readers were correct in their simply dismissing (without so much as clicking onto the linked-to evidence) my statement in that article, that Russia has “a democratic Constitution — a Constitution far more democratic than almost any in Europe.”
A reader of an article online who doesn’t so much as click on a linked phrase that he/she encounters in it in order to find out what the author’s evidence is for that linked phrase that the reader disagrees with, is simply seeking to continue with his/her existing false beliefs, NOT seeking to identify and root out and replace those false beliefs. Apparently, at least at Reddit, just about all of the readers there are seeking only to share with others the manipulated-by-billionaires false beliefs that all of the readers there have — not to eliminate those false beliefs and learn at least SOMETHING of the truth (which scientifically oriented people would be doing).
Incidentally: The reason that I had pointed out in the linked-to article (“The Stupidity of Russia’s Legislated Heterosexuality”) that Russia’s Constitution is democratic was so that I could argue there that the laws that Russia has recently passed in order to discriminate against LGBT (gays, etc.) VIOLATE RUSSIA’S OWN CONSTITUTION. The evidently Russia-hating readers at Reddit never got to know that fact (though it adds empirical support to the prejudice that they already hold against Russia), because they ‘learn’ only from each other (like gossipers do), and NOT from links in online articles that they read online. Such ‘readers’ are really only talkers — that’s how they ‘learn’ — only in conversation with like-minded fools. In this instance, it prevented them from learning an important fact that FITS with their prejudice: that Russia’s Government (though NOT Russia’s Constitution) is bigoted against gays — that Russia violates its own Constitution on that topic.
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