North Korea calls itself a Democratic Republic, does this mean it actually is?

Of course not. The good old joke is that any country that feels the need to put "democratic" in its name to make it look good is a communist dictatorship. Ditto "people's". Any democratic country doesn't need to say so because you can obviously SEE it is. I well remember DDR on competitors' clothes at the Olympics - Deutsche Demokratische Republik. This was East Germany, where you had the democratic choice of communist, communist or communist. Since "die Wende" (the reunification) in the early 1990s after eastern European communism collapsed, the united Germany has used the same name as West Germany did, Bundesrepublik Deutschland, which means Federal Republic of Germany. Now THAT'S truthful - it's a federal republic with 16 states. It also happens to be as democratic as you could possibly want.

The full name of the country is Democratic People's Republic of Korea, in which about the only truthful word is "Korea". Democratic and being about the people it sure ain't, and it is becoming debatable whether it is a republic! Given that every leader it's ever had since Kim Il-sung has been a descendant of Kim Il-sung, isn't it really a monarchy?

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. Call it a goose all you like but it's a bloody DUCK, right?

Just for fun with the DPRK while we're at it, here's a news story that happened not too far from me last year, as the North Korean Embassy in the UK happens to be a suburban house in this part of London - I've seen it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-270387... Or for the loony tabloid view, http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/374772... (The Daily Star is a newspaper that once ran a story of "Jumbo Jet found on the Moon" - need I say more?) Yes, North Korea actually did make a formal diplomatic complaint to the UK Foreign Office over this, and the FO, bless it, deployed its centuries of experience, including running the British Empire, to respond to that by doing absolutely nothing. Magisterially doing nothing is what the FO is best at, which annoys the politicians sometimes, but think about it... doing something would acknowledge that the complaint had some validity. All it did, when asked by the press if it had received a complaint from North Korea, was say yes, it had received one.

Well China calls itself the People's Republic of China, but the people do not rule there. Just because you may be standing in a garage, you cannot just call yourself a car if you aren't a car.

Capitalism is the free, virtually unregulated market.

Fascism is when the government regulates the means of production and distribution of goods.

Socialism is when the government owns the means of production and distribution of goods.

You seem confused about the definition of fascism. It most certainly is NOT anti-union or pro-corporation - neither of those aspects are inherent in fascism at all. Fascism is when the government takes over control (but not ownership) of the means of production and distribution of goods. When the government purchases the majority stock in GM, that is fascism. When the government uses subsidies to stimulate investment in green energy or uses environmental regulations to increase the cost (and thus decrease the use) of fossil fuels, that is fascism. When the government creates cartels by creating barriers to entry, by requiring expensive decals on taxis, for example - that is fascism. Regulated utilities are fascism.

And you can't define socialism by citing its stated goal. I may as well contrast the two by saying that capitalism seeks improvement in quality of life for the maximum number of people while socialism seeks shared poverty through state-mandated mediocrity.

Another butthurt leftie not being able to reconcile his worldview after being told the reality. Yes Hitler was socialist, he was also fascist, but nevertheless a socialist. He wanted equality for all Germans and believed in big government. Big government would solve all of his people's problems.

Moistened Bint, Hitler believed every german should have a car.

T, you are in denial like your friend. Hitler used government to actively support and develop the German people, just like the USSR, economically and socially.

Anytime you have to People's or Democratic to the name it isn't.

Shalom!

So a socialist who claims to be a socialist is not a socialist unless you give your approval. OK, got it.

According to con logic, yes.

Definitely not

Very good question