de·moc·ra·cy ( P ) Pronunciation Key (d-mkr-s) n. pl. de·moc·ra·cies
- Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
- A political or social unit that has such a government.
- The common people, considered as the primary source of political power.
- Majority rule.
- The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community.
[French démocratie, from Late Latin dmocratia, from Greek dmokrati : dmos, people; see d- in Indo-European Roots + -krati, -cracy.] |
re·pub·lic ( P ) Pronunciation Key (r-pblk) n.
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- A political order whose head of state is not a monarch and in modern times is usually a president.
- A nation that has such a political order.
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- A political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them.
- A nation that has such a political order.
- often Republic A specific republican government of a nation: the Fourth Republic of France.
- An autonomous or partially autonomous political and territorial unit belonging to a sovereign federation.
- A group of people working as equals in the same sphere or field: the republic of letters.
[French république, from Old French, from Latin rspblica : rs, thing; see r- in Indo-European Roots + pblica, feminine of pblicus, of the people; see public.] |
Well our system is of government is indeed a republic, is is also a democracy, and specifically the most accurate terms would be a Democratic Republic or a Republican Democracy.
Democracy only means, as I highlighted, government by the people. It can be a representative form with a written constitution, as ours is, or a parlimentary one ala the UK, or a direct democracy as in ancient Greece.
So Williams is indeed right to talk about our democracy.
No, we are a constitutional republic and NOT a democracy, not all dictionaries are right. A lynch mob (majority rules) is a democracy, we are not.