Do we live in a Democracy or a Republic?
By Benjamin Todd
This is a question that you could fool most Americans with. We hear every day about Democracy this and Democracy that. We almost never hear the word Republic. The first thing we need to do is to find the differences between the two. I will start with Democracy.
Democracy is a form of Government where officials are elected and allowed to make decisions with out any safeguards. As an example I will use Australia. Australia is a Democracy. People are elected to office by the majority. They have complete control. Australia has no bill of rights. I have heard about the Australian Government censoring free speech. The have the legal authority to do this. In the end a Democracy is no better then a dictatorship. It amounts to mob rule.
A Republic is a country that elects Representatives to run the Government. There will be a constitution and a bill of rights that will protect rights even if they are unpopular at the time. It also helps to protect minorities. This is the form of Government we have in the United States. People tend to forget this because our Government thinks that can bend and in many cases disregard the Constitution.
I have had a few people ask me “What does that mean “when Ron Paul says we need to restore the Republic. What he means is a return to Constitutional law. Restoring the Republic means a return to following the constitution.
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Comments: 14
"Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide." John Adams
"A democracy is a volcano which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction. These will produce an eruption and carry desolation in their way." Fisher Ames, known as one of America's "forgotten" Founding Fathers
"Democracy is the most vile form of government... democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention: have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property: and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths." James Madison who wrote the Constitution.
The Constitution calles this a Republic and the Pledge call it a Republic so I have no choice since I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and I mean it when I pledge aligence to the Republic.
I still can't get used to the "under God" in the pledge. It is not what I was taught and not what I said. It was put in and it can be taken out just as easily.
We are a republic with democratically elected representatives. So, we talk about democracy but in fact, the article is correct. We have a representative government. One of the hallmarks of our constitution is the Bill of Rights and the principle that the majority elects its representatives while the rights of the minority are always protected.
On the other hand, democracy has retained the concept of the people being governed having a voice in government even if in its pure form has never been attempted on a national level and on that level the term has generally been associated with a representative democracy and may include governments that are constitutional monarchies.
In light of the above I would say we are are neither or both and perhaps it is it is time to develop a new terminology or acknowledge that past meanings of these terms are obsolete and meaningless. If however you insist on retaining them I would say we are a "representative democratic republic".
A Democratic Republic
Democracy- a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections
Republic- a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law
Benjamin, you've got the basic ideas right, but it doesn't sound like you have a full grasp of the difference. People elect the representatives in a democracy as well.
Let me ask you this-- you say a republic "protects the minority." In a very real sense you are correct about this, as one of the biggest issues in forming the Constitution was how the smaller states would be protected from the larger states.
As you correctly note, if it's a democracy, mob rule would ensue.
How then, does our Constitution achieve "protection for the little guy??"
I know the answer, I'd like to see if you do.
I haven't said enough yet to be "wrong," and what I have said certainly isn't "wrong."