| ManusJustus said: A lot of people are confusing laws with democracy. There are undemocratic laws, and Hondurus is a great example of this. In Hondurus is illegal to hold a referendum on term limits, and there is no way around this, be it the justice system, legislative system, or electoral system. That is undemocratic. The United States has a much better system in that a certain majority of votes can change pre-existing laws. Also, the Hondurus military is in charge of elections, and I consider that to be undemocratic. |
Neither Honduras or the United States are democracies, this is a fallacy in thinking. Instead, they are Representative (democratic) Republics governed by a Constitution. This is a democratic form of government where REPRESENTATIVES elected by the people have the responsibility to write and vote on laws. The people do not vote directly on every piece of legislation, and most powers are restricted to certain branches of government and not given directly to the people, So the people have an indirect power by way of appointing individuals who best suit their own political ideals.
If the laws & constitution written by the legislative branch (the representatives of the people) prohibit the people from directly voting on certain changes to the constitution, then zelaya was subverting the rule of law (written by the representatives of the people), and therefore subverting the will of the people to even bring this referrendum to a vote.
Thomas Jefferson said, "A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine."
Thomas Jefferson, March 11, 1790: "The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind."
Alexander Hamilton, in debate, said: "Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate government."
By stepping out of the confines of the laws of Honduras, Zelaya was directly violating the balance of powers set up in the government and breaking the law. When anybody deliberately breaks the law, be he a president or a plumber, that person is a criminal. Zelaya was arrested for his direct defiance of the laws and courts of Honduras and rightfully removed from his job, and it is disgusting to me how our government is interfering in this matter.
