I would personally say that the United States is not a democracy by a typical definition, because voters don't actually have the choice to vote for anything they like, and not just crank things but even things that are very popular and very important - medicare for all is a popular policy that neither party represents for example, and third parties are so disempowered by the voting system that it is essentially impossible (but not technically! as if that matters!) for any other party to gain power in their place. The generally low approval ratings for various parts of the government (the Senate, the presidency, the Supreme Court) are an indication of this. Is the mere ability to choose between two options, especially bad options, really a good definition of democracy? Might, perhaps, there be better ones?

Compare this to China. Sure, it's a one-party state, but it's a communist one-party state, as opposed to the United States' capitalist one party state that is merely separated into two separate parties to meet their own, bad, definition of democracy. That being said, it's actually quite a highly decentralized country, with regional and local officials elected by the people. More importantly, it has very high approval ratings and the people's needs are generally met. I think this is a much better definition of democracy because where the people's needs are made the priority. It's harder to game that kind of system - the former definition has the "cheat code" of just splitting one party in two and then having the rich "lobby" both of them (AKA, legalized corruption) to have the same policies where it counts, whereas the latter can't do that, it actually has to deliver the goods. Of course, it's not as if you can't have both - a system where you can choose everything about your country, and one where most people's needs are generally met and most people approve. But if we have to have one or the other, the latter is the more important feature, IMO.

[–] SaltySalamander@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago

China is an authoritarian dictatorship. It bears very little resemblance to Marx's communism.

[–] orizuru@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Sure, it's a one-party state, but it's a communist one-party state

Wasn't communism supposed to be a classless, stateless, and moneyless society?

people's needs are generally met

Except if you're a political dissident or a Uyghur.

You also seem to overlook the massive state surveillance apparatus. The NSA and FBI are probably jealous of how far reaching some of the Chinese systems are.

China is essentially an autocratic state-capitalist country, with some communist aesthetics.

But then again, your comment is nothing I wouldn't expect from someone from hexbear.

[–] jeena@jemmy.jeena.net 1 points 1 year ago

It seems to me you never lived in a real existing communist country.

[–] morry040@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

It it incorrect to state that voters don't have a choice. The barriers are high to make radical change at the Federal level, sure, but that doesn't mean that it cannot be done. One of the biggest problems is disenfranchisement and disengagement. People feel like they cannot make any change so they believe that the system is broken, but for all of the talk about politics, very few people actually vote in all of the possible elections.

Here's an example of US voting in action...

The 2022 Dallas County elections covered a population of about 2.8 million residents in a large urban area, yet voter turnout was only 218,000 residents (7.8% of the population).
The county level of government manages a significant part of daily life for residents (e.g. police, utilities, public education, roads) yet the resident population seems disinterested with guiding local government. If you look at the election records, some roles voted into power are not even contested.
https://www.dallascountyvotes.org/election-results-and-maps/election-results/historical-election-results/#Election

If one wanted to run for office, the requirements at county levels are fairly simple. Fill in some forms, be a resident in the country for 6 months (12 months in the state), and you might need to arrange for 25 people to sign a petition for your nomination. That's it. You don't need to be a Democrat or a Republican - you just need the nomination.
https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/candidates/guide/2022/qualifications2022.shtml

And if you need more convincing about how easy it could be to make a change in local politics, meet the animal opponents: https://www.insider.com/dog-mayors-of-america-2019-7

[–] EnderWi99in@kbin.social -4 points 1 year ago

The US has never pretended to be a pure democracy. It's a representative republic. A truly democratic system would work fairly poorly in most places.