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Quote by: underbear1 Dictators aren't elected, if an elected official becomes a dictator, his/her voters and supporters had no say in the matter. No one has the power to get rid of a dictator, short of overthrowing the government or assasination.There are no checks or balances, and no specific means of choosing the next ruler once the current dictator dies.The way absolute power corrupts, this sounds like a disastorous choice in government. |
Not true. Dictatorships can have elections. Take the UK for example, it has an "elected dictatorship" as Lord Acton put it. The PM of the UK has the ability to do anything in this country. We do not have a fixed constitution in this country, so there is nothing we can point to and say "hey, he's going beyond his jurisdiction". Any law that would prevent a government from doing as it pleased can be overturned in less than an hour, with a new bill being passed government will have the ability to modify existing bills without debate etc And as the government, the executive, is drawn from the Commons, the legislature, the are no checks and balances. The PM of the UK can also use MI5 and MI6 without much interference, as there is little independant oversight of those bodies.
So, we have a government that cannot be prevented from acting in any manner it pleases. The only thing that differentiates the modern UK and some third world tin pot dictatorship is our vast wealth and the amount of restraint that has been shown by politicians not to abuse their limitless power. That is changing however.
Yet we have elections, but that means nothing. It means picking between dictatorships.