Posted on 02/25/2002 7:50:23 AM PST by luckyluke
One thing I often hear here is that the US is not a democracy, it's a republic. I thought voting to elect government defines democracy. Isn't that true? Thus, isn't the US a democracy? And isn't that a good thing?
Also, what is a republic? Isn't it just a synonym for 'country'?
Is there a value judgment associated with the words 'democracy' and 'republic' based on the names of the Democrat and Republican parties?
Even the Greeks understood that a pure democracy was very dangerous. A republic is a reasonable compromise, leaving the business of governing to (hopefully capable) representatives while still giving the people a say in government by letting them choose those representatives. The USA is not a democracy using the classical definition, but a republic - a fact that remains true regardless of the names of the two major parties and the predominant political affiliation of Free Republic posters.
Neither does idiot, but we have many.
Nope. We're a Federal Republic, the structure and powers of which are defined and delegated by our Constitution.
You were close enough, though! Much better than 99% of the officials we've elected.
:) ttt
A Republic is a highly decentralized government, extending a majority of the powers of governace to the localities (States, Counties, etc.) Most of the nations which call themselves "Republic" are not - China, Germany (both the former DDR and the DFR).
A Federal government is a central form of government, much like the European parliamentary bodies.
Ours is a cross of both, characteristic of the opposing viewpoints which went into creating it - The jeffersonian Democratic Republicans, against the centralist Federalists. Both sides contributed to, and heavily influenced the design of our Constitition, and the viewpoints of both created the form of government which we have today, which, imho, is absolutely unique amongst the nations.
Hope this clarifies things a bit.
:) ttt
It also has the effect of buffering the inertia of popular mandate. It slows down change in government, and like it or not that's a good thing.
It has nothing at all to do with the roots for the words Democrat or Republican. If anything, the roots are reversed.
But our means of electing our leaders and approving legislation at the local level is "democratic."
It is true that the states and the central government function as a representative republic, as they should. But when you vote for your governor, it is by a majority of the voters of your state. When you vote for your Senator, the same. Your U.S. Representative, the majority of votes in that district, and so on.
A true "Democracy" as a form of government would entail a plebescite--voting by all eligible citizens--for every law or change of law that came down. We obviously don't have that, nor is there any threat of it.
So, don't let the firebreathers that infest this site rattle you. They simply use a hypersensitivity to certain keywords like "democracy" as a trigger for rants that truly have no meaning, since there doesn't appear to be any sort of credible threat to ending our present form of government.
re·pub·lic n.
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Training Manual
No. 20000-25
War Department
Washington, November 30, 1928
CITIZENSHIP
Prepared under the direction of the
Chief of Staff
This Manual Supersedes Manual of Citizenship Training
DEMOCRACY:
REPUBLIC:
A democracy, according to the above definition, is actually controlled by a demagogue, defined as:
"A speaker who seeks to make capital of social discontent and gain political influence."
Alexander Hamilton was aware of the tendency of a democratic form of government to be torn apart by itself, and he has been quoted as writing:
"We are now forming a Republican form of government. Real Liberty is not found in the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments. If we incline too much to democracy, we shall soon shoot into a monarchy, or some other form of dictatorship."
James Madison wrote:
"In all cases where a majority are united by a common interest or passion, the rights of the minority are in danger!"
Another was John Adams who wrote:
"Unbridled passions produce the same effects, whether in a king, nobility, or a mob. The experience of all mankind has proved the prevalence of a disposition to use power wantonly. It is therefore as necessary to defend an individual against the majority (in a democracy) as against the king in a monarchy."
"Did I say, "republic?" By God, yes, I said "republic!" Long live the glorious republic of the United States of America. Damn democracy. It is a fraudulent term used, often by ignorant persons but no less often by intellectual fakers, to describe an infamous mixture of socialism, miscegenation, graft, confiscation of property and denial of personal rights to individuals whose virtuous principles make them offensive."
Westbrook Pegler in the NY Journal American, January 25th & 26th, 1951 under the titles "Upholds Republic of U.S. Against Phony Democracy" and "Democracy in the U.S. Branded Meaningless."
hide-bound fanatics
firebreathers that infest this site
Easy there big fella.......!
Alexander Tyler
I hope that wasn't supposed to make us feel better...
Well, since I view our present form of government as Incremental Socialism, I would have to agree with you. But what do I know, I'm just a person who cares deeply about what I and others see happening to our country, and we see things that don't bode well at all for the future.
Or, I'm just a firebreathing pest, as you see me. Tell me, do you see our government the same way as I do?
Except that it isn't normally used that way here. While I agree that we need to be better-educated as to terminology, etc., most people when they say "democracy" are referring to the means used to elect our representatives and other officers, not the form of our government itself.
Now, if you want to point out that those who call George W. Bush an "illegitimate President" and are callling for direct election of the President, are such "intellectual fakers" and demagogues, then I will agree with you.
But too often I see this argument used by teeth-gnashers that are more interested in winning an argument by sophistry, than sincerely concerned about educating the ignorant.
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