主题：【原创】民主是一个过程 -- 中国农民
家园 这个定义是很准确的 很容易理解。讲的是人类的终极追求：解放。这实际上也是马克思的追求。简单说：民主就是追求人的自由/解放。这里用的是liberty，既是自由的意思，也是解放的意思。
家园 楼下的龙驹坝先生贴出了民主的定义，您的“准确”的定义怎么和 那个定义靠不上？牛津和您的定义究竟哪个是错的？
家园 您受累 能不能把这个原文贴一下?Liberty我们一般翻成自由,而民主我们指的是Democracy:
• noun (pl. democracies) 1 a form of government in which the people have a voice in the exercise of power, typically through elected representatives. 2 a state governed in such a way. 3 control of a group by the majority of its members.
— ORIGIN Greek demokratia, from demos ‘the people’ + -kratia ‘power, rule’.
那么什么是people呢
• plural noun 1 human beings in general or considered collectively. 2 (the people) the mass of citizens; the populace. 3 (one’s people) one’s relatives, or one’s employees or supporters. 4 (pl. peoples) treated as sing. or pl. the members of a particular nation, community, or ethnic group.• verb 1 (usu. be peopled) inhabit. 2 fill with a particular group of inhabitants.
— ORIGIN Old French poeple, from Latin populus ‘populace’.
可能是我的理解有问题,我怎么觉得这里的定义跟自由还是有些区别的:
• noun (pl. liberties) 1 the state of being free from oppression or imprisonment. 2 a right or privilege. 3 the power or scope to act as one pleases. 4 informal a presumptuous remark or action.
— PHRASES take liberties 1 behave in an unduly familiar manner towards a person. 2 treat something freely, without strict faithfulness to the facts or to an original. take the liberty do something without first asking permission.
— ORIGIN Latin libertas, from liber ‘free’.
家园 明察秋毫嘛！上花！ 所以我说大多数中国， 不对大陆的知识分子不懂民主嘛！
文章开篇民主定义就不对。
家园 好帖，献花。过程与目的之争，看来要进一步升温了 :-) 家园 在专制国家，民主实际上就是目的