Posted on 01/04/2005 9:37:45 PM PST by kattracks
Civics btt
hehehe... so... why'd you leave your home planet, really? What color is the sky there?
Democracy = Mob rule.
Republic = Representative form of government.
The first Republican president is responsible for destroying the bulwark of our Republic - State sovereignty and the 10th amendment. We were left with a consolidated democracy.
At least their motives are transparent; their sole purpose is to make money. When financial gain is the motive, you at least have a negotiating position, modest as it may be.
But when judicail fiat and political ideology rule your life by people that are 'doing it for your own good', you are totally screwed. Those peoples motivation is power, and that's not negotiable.
I've spent a fair amount of time over the years, thinking about this and believe your statement is accurate.
It's posible though, that the lesson of the civil war is that strong state's rights and a weak federal government just didn't work. It's also possible that a corallary is that a republic is less effective than the democracy they were protecting against in the first place.
I'm not saying that I'm conviced of either of those ideas, but it something to think about.
I noticed the other day when I did a self search to find a thread that I've made over 2000 posts to FR. I was surprised when I saw that, because I though it was a lot. My second thought was if I've done that many, I wonder how many Kattracks has made. I'll bet you have close to the record, whatever it is.
Armies of government parasites in government towns (even government states - like Maryland and Connecticut) wasn't exactly what the Founders envisioned.
You know, the push to violate this principle comes from both sides though. Some try to say that the constitution grants rights it does not grant (and they assume rights are from gov't, not God). Others try to say that a majority can do anything it wants. The Constitution was never meant to grant license to the individual. But there are rights granted to mankind from God that no government should ever take away. Majorities can make decisions that affect their lives and values, especially at the local level. They cannot take basic rights like speech, worship, voting, property, etc.
The joke is that most of the rights actually mentioned in the Bill of Rights have been violated. These days, the only Constitutional rights worth the paper they are written on are the ones not actually written on paper, but rather found in the shadows (judicial imaginations) of the Constitution.
Works to what end? You have to keep in mind the original Republican party's platform of higher taxes and government directed expenditure and enterprise (Lincoln's policies in this respect are more akin to FDR than anyone else). As they threatened in the '30's, the South Carolina bolted the Union to avoid Washington DC's thirst for taxes.
It's also possible that a corallary is that a republic is less effective than the democracy they were protecting against in the first place.
Again, less effective at what? Madison's point in Federalist #10 is that factions can easily coalesce to form majorities and impose their will.
I think America's best hope for liberty in the future is the dissolution of the Union, and the maintenance of our free trade. The original charter has been usurped beyond recognition. Washington D.C. was never intended to have the monopoly on political power it garnered itself on the battlefields it made of the South.
I am not. All I am saying is that calling yourself a democratic republic doesn't guarantee either, like DPR Korea and East Germany as you have pointed out.
What the founders created was a constitutionally limited democratically elected representative republic. IF we can keep it, said Ben Franklin.
If we can keep it.
/jasper
what kind of idiot would consier us a democracy?
I know it's optional, but it sure would be interesting if you mad posters put at least a little something biographical about yourselves on your profile pages.
Newbies on FR.
Nope. Constitutional Republic with limited elements of democracy.
Sure the founding fathers created a republic, but we now have, for the most part, a democracy. We might as well not even have a consititution, it is routinely ignored by Republicans and especially the Baathists, er Democrats.
FDR and the 17th Amendment really got us on the path to democracy. Because of FDR, people have figured out that they can vote themselves goodies from the public treasury. When the majority of the people start doing this, we are doomed.
We are in a precarious position when something like 40% of all Americans (and illegals) receive some kind of a check from the government.
Sure-- it didn't work if you're a power hungry politician. It didn't work if your goal is to exercise your will over a nation of free people. It didn't work if you would rather consolidate power among your buddies in Washington than let the free market and the conscience of free citizens take their course...
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