You can't really believe those are the only two places. They're the ones who got caught.

that stuff should constantly be audited in my opinion

I mean dude, USSR had elections. China has elections. North Korea has elections.

i think their definition of an election is even worse than ours

Direct democracy may have been good in ancient Greece for example. But look at how big their countries were. 30,000 electors at best.

It was good for the time

If we were a direct democracy, you and I would have died in a detention camp a long time ago

In a country that had 30,000 electors, probably not

Now look at the population

convervatives do not have the votes to live in a direct democracy

Things change

In a small one sure

In a big one hell no

And we live in a big country

I'll use China as a comparison since it's the one I'm most experienced with.

Can you or I become president in the US? No. We need connections, money etc

What do you need to become president in China? Appointment by the CPC Standing Committee, who is elected by the National People's Congress, who are elected by lower People's Congresses and so on down to the smallest level at the neighborhood district or village

In other words. Money and connections.

You have to be a party member to do anything in china

thats no an election

they give you options that fit their needs for power, not your needs

A member of one of eight parties

Yes, it's a multiparty democracy

right, as long as you are communist

You can't tell me the communists are maintaining power because the people enjoy it

Or Revolutionary Committee of the Kuomintang

China Democratic League, China Association for Promoting Democracy, Taiwan Democratic Self Government League, and more

All legal parties on the mainland

legal doesn't mean they have any real power

if they had any real power china wouldn't remain communist

there were other parties in nazi germany, didn't see any of them actually do anything useful

Nazi Germany actually banned all other parties

All of those parties hold seats in government

And believe me those people do not want to topple their government

Now I'm not saying it's an actual free country or anything

I'm arguing as if it is, for a reason

Problems in the 60s/70s aside. It's very safe. Most people are educated, employed, and well-fed.

except for the political and religious dissidents being shipped off

Political dissidents, meaning Muslims who make jihadist statements

Do you know for sure those are the only ones being carted away?

Here I'll give you some background