America is not the world's oldest democracy in the world, I think. Correcting Bill Clinton to assert dominance mwehehehe!!

"A spring reborn in the world's oldest democracy, that brings forth the vision and courage to reinvent America." - Bill Clinton's inaugural address, Jan. 20, 1993.

Well, well, well. First blog! So, I wasn't born yet during Bill Clinton's first inaugural address. In fact, it was a decade or so before my parents shagged. But when I first heard his address when I was around ten, I found it very hard to believe that America was the world's oldest democracy. I mean, the oldest one couldn't just have been 240 something years old? 

Democracy is a form of government in which the power is vested in the people so we have to take into account the right of everyone to vote. If history serves me right, black men in the US were not allowed to vote until the 1870s and women weren't allowed to vote until the 1920s, but even then, women of color could not vote in all 50 states until 1965! And I'm not sure the electoral college getting the final say in elections is fair, either. 

It's still an ongoing debate which country can claim the title of the world's oldest democracy. But the title definitely does not belong to the United States of America! Now, I have three guesses on which the oldest democracy is, and that is San Marino who has been electing their leaders since 1243 and still has an active constitution, Norway, who was an independent country at the time they gave suffrage in 1913, or New Zealand, the first country to grant universal suffrage in 1893. 

The problem with this debate is that there are so many possible contenders, and no one seems to agree on ONE definition of democracy. 

Norway is a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy, meaning that the king's powers are limited by the constitution and Norway has parliamentary elections so the people do get to elect their leaders, and Norwegian royal family doesn't seem to have much influence for the king's duties are mainly representative and ceremonial, and legislative and executive powers lie in the parliament's hands. Among my top three guesses, it is also the first to gain independence and become a sovereign nation.

But on the other hand, San Marino's government is like really really old. 301. That's almost two thousand years old. They have been electing their leaders since 1243, and their constitution was formed in the 1600s. 

So I don't know my stance on this either, but it comes down to two now, I guess. Feel free to disagree, this is my opinion and I'm not really an expert when it comes to these topics. 

- TTYL, via 𐙚 💌