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Tuesday, January 20, 2024
By Steven L. Taylor

I have written before about the beauty of the peaceful transfer of power in a democracy (for example, here, here and here). The uninterrupted peaceful transfer of power from Washington to Obama is truly a remarkable thing in the annals of human governance and, as such, the pageantry of the day is wholly justified. It is, without doubt, made even more significant that this day we have inaugurated a person of African-American parentage. Regardless of one’s partisan predilections, one has to be a historical illiterate not to understand the profound importance and significance of that fact.

In keeping with the day, I wanted my Project365 photo to have a presidential theme:

Inauguration 2024

More: As I watched now former President Bush get into the helicopter as President Obama watched and waved it struck me yet again what a remarkable process this is. A mere hour ago, George W. Bush was one of the most powerful men in the world, and then, after a few words and few ceremonial actions, he became a mere citizen. Not guns, not tanks, not violence, but rather votes led to this transfer. That’s pretty cool and only the most partisan and bitter can’t see that. (And my observations have nothing to do with who leaves and who enters).

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5 Responses to “44”

  • el
  • pt
    1. Repubblica.it - Blog - NetMonitor » Blog Archive » Alle 18.01 cambia anche il sito della Casa Bianca (e la rete resta intasata per ore) Says:

      [...] E Poliblog : “ Quello che mi ha colpito che un minuto prima Geroge Bush era l’uomo più potente del mondo e poche parole e formule dopo era diventato un semplice cittadino. Senza armi, senza violenza, niente. (…) solo i più partigiani non vedono questo fatto elementare”.  [...]

    2. ts Says:

      To be a bit snarky, how do you feel about the peaceful transfer of power in a republic?

    3. Dr. Steven Taylor Says:

      I think I am missing the point of the snark…

    4. ts Says:

      The snark is that our government is not a democracy, but a republic. It has become all too common by politicians, the media, and the citizenry to describe our government as a democracy. The result is that the public neither understands what a democracy is, nor do they understand what a republic is. To be most accurate, I should describe the government as a democratic republic, but it is a republic nonetheless.

    5. Dr. Steven Taylor Says:

      I thought that might be your point.

      However, in modern parlance, we are a democracy (and a republic).

      I assume you are trying to use the word “democracy” in terms of direct democracy, or some system where everyone has a vote one everything? In that sense, no, we are not a democracy and such a thing probably has never existed anywhere.

      If you mean democracy in the Greek sense of mob rule, we don’t have that either.

      However, as one whose major topic of research is democracy, I can assure you: we have a democracy. In truth I find that whole formulation “we have a republic, not a democracy” to be too sure by half.


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