dumbocracy
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Blend of dumb + democracy or dumb + -o- + -cracy. First use appears c. 1869.
Noun
[edit]dumbocracy (usually uncountable, plural dumbocracies)
- (slang, derogatory) A democracy, particularly an ineffective or dysfunctional one.
- 1869 September 30, “Democratic Hot Shot from a Republican Standpoint”, in John T. Raper, editor, The Vinton Record, volume 20, number 6 (whole 995), McArthur, Oh., →ISSN, page [2], column 3:
- Democratic Hot Shot from a Republican Standpoint. Don’t vote for [George Hunt] Pendleton and poverty. The dumbocracy and aristocracy all support Pendleton and poverty. […] The Democracy are economical. That’s the reason they fail to pay the interest on the State debt, and pocketed the cash instead. No economy about paying your debts, from a Democratic standpoint.
- 1980, Whole Earth Catalog (publisher), The Coevolution Quarterly - Issues 28-29, page 25:
- Dumbocracy in action. Is fatal --- get thee behind me, God!
- 1985, New Zealand Parliament, Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Council and House of Representatives, Volume 468, page 9057:
- It is more like a "dumbocracy" that the Minister of Energy might recognise.
- 1994, John Reed Club, New York Branch (contributor), Partisan Review - Volume 61, page 713:
- The democratization of art and culture for political purposes will only make us dumber than we are, and dumbocracy in America is presently at its height.
- 2016, Michael Faust, The Case For Meritocracy:
- The only reason they agreed to dumbocracy and was that they saw how it would deliver up a servile, compliant, docile population who would delude themselves that they were "free" and in charge, hence would never revolt.