----- Original Message -----
From: "Andreas Johansson" <andjo@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2003 12:23 PM
Subject: Re: CHAT: cultural interpretation [was Re: THEORY: language and the
brain]
> Quoting Joe <joe@...>:
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...>
> > To: <CONLANG@...>
> > Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2003 1:25 AM
> > Subject: Re: CHAT: cultural interpretation [was Re: THEORY: language and
the
> > brain]
> >
> >
> > > On Fri, Jul 04, 2003 at 11:18:48AM +0100, michael poxon wrote:
> > > > Sorry, but this notion of the US being the acme of freedom is
complete
> > tosh.
> > >
> > > I didn't say "acme", I said "prototype". First, not necessarily best.
> > > And the US was, in fact, the first modern nation to have rule by the
> > > people's representatives rather than by a monarch who either inherited
the
> > > job or was chosen by some other less inclusive means.
> >
> > Switzerland?
>
> How democratic was the pre-1798 system? Some swift browsing suggests it
left
> effective power in the hand of aristocrats and merchant elites, with
little
> influence for peasants and poor city-dwellers.
And largely the US power at that time rested in the hands of white males.
Neither can claim to be prototypical for democracy without having equal
voting rights for all over a certain(low-ish) age.
> Andreas
>