from Hacker News

New York Is Not a Democracy

by paulpauper on 6/16/25, 6:41 PM with 7 comments

  • by A_D_E_P_T on 6/16/25, 7:27 PM

    Not a democracy? Oh no!

    But what does "democracy" even mean? And how does ranked-choice voting prevent a polity from being a "democracy"?

    Does the author realize that the Athenians also voted against people? Every so often, obnoxious politicians were ostracized. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostracism

    Ranked-choice voting can be, along similar lines, a way of voting against somebody.

    For whatever it's worth, the Athenians would be absolutely aghast at "representative democracy" -- feeling, as they did, that every male citizen was inherently a representative of Athens. (Hence Athenian travelers, little more than peddlers, felt capable of speaking on behalf of Athens when they once found themselves in Sparta.) The modern wage-earner, and not only in New York, is already more a Helot than an Athenian.

  • by kgwxd on 6/16/25, 7:07 PM

    Of course not, why would NY be any different than the country it's in. I can't believe Cuomo is even showing his face in public. The old guard needs to stand down, we can't be bringing back in the worst the party has to offer now, or ever again.