contricusc
Contributor
There's not much difference between democratic societies and other societies, (fascist, Marxist) other than their perceived red line and adopted guide. Democratic societies have their constitution, Fascism has the dear leader, and Communism has Das Kapital as their ultimate guide which everybody must conform with. Anyone who tried to change those guides would either be imprisoned or killed. So yes basically democracy breeds an authoritarian society the same way fascists and communists and all societies.
You are so wrong with this. First of all, in a democracy, there are clear procedures on how to change the constitution. In the end, changing the whole constitution requires a referendum in most countries, but it can be done, and proposing to change the constitution will in no way get you imprisoned or killed.
I should also mention there is a huge difference between the contents of a democratic constitution compared to the whims of a “dear leader”.
The slight difference couldn't make up for the overall similarity, in Russia they have the Siloviki, basically a select group of men that dictates what's what, in Europe, they have an even bigger Siloviki called the parliament who decides what's what.
You forgot to mention that the parliament gets reshuffled through elections every few years. You don’t have this option with the Siloviki.
Let's say a guy wants to establish a fascist party, These guys and gals (just like the Russian Siloviki) would unite and use the state instruments (police, army and intelligence agency etc) to their whims the same way the Siloviki using FSB, OMON and other state instrument to crush opposition.
Than how did the Sweden Democrats got to 20% of the vote if they were crushed by the state apparatus? They are the descendants of a fascist party, and are now one of the biggest members in parliament . The same can be asked about Brothers of Italy which gave the curent prime minister. It also descends from an initially fascist party.
You also have Casa Pound in Italy, which is still a fascist party, and participates in elections.
In France you have the Communist Party, which is a member of parliament.
Just a few examples from memory, but there are surely more in Europe.
Also in the case of Germany and Japan, their constitution are foreign-made, approved, and written. So basically these guys are traitors. But they stay there because the opposition to these people is crushed by the state. The same way the Siloviki of Russia uses FSB to crush dissent to their rule.
Germany and Japan are not exactly what I would call democratic countries. In Germany you had a prime minister that ruled longer than Putin, and opposition parties like the AFD are being officialy monitored by the secret services. They also had parties that were disbanded in the past. Germany is a democracy in name only. Not as bad as Russia, but not very far either.
As you mentioned, those countries became “democratic“ under occupation, so the democracy they have is mostly symbolic.
German police raid neo-Nazi cells across country
Four arrested after more than 1,000 officers swoop on homes of 50 suspectswww.theguardian.comGermany bans far-right, pro-Nazi group; Police raid homes
BERLIN (AP) — More than 180 police officers raided homes in three German states early Tuesday after the German government banned a far-right group, the interior ministry said.apnews.com
Monarchist arrested in Germany
Very authoritarian, but indeed the West knows how to masquerade itself with media and image cosmetics.
I agree that Germany is not very democratic and it is quite authoritarian. Not as bad as Russia, but not very far behind.