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Why do Americans seem to think we live in a Democracy? We are a Constitutional Republic which is uniquely different than a Democracy.?
12 Answers
- ?Lv 62 years ago
According to what I've read, this founders used the words "democracy" and "republic" interchangeably (in fact the predecessor of the Democratic party was known as the Democratic Republicans, with no paradox intended). The idea of a clear distinction between the two ideas comes from one of the Federalist Papers (#10), but even the author, Alexander Hamilton, didn't see fit to observe the distinction in any of his other writings.
The reason that modern Republicans emphasize this distinction in their propaganda is simply because it provides a convenient justification for claiming victory in elections despite receiving far fewer votes (and, just to be on the safe side, to engage in all manner of slimy dirty tricks to prevent non-White voters from being counted, as has been standard practice since the partisan Republican majority gutted the Voting Rights Act a few years ago). It has everything to do with power and nothing to do with real principles, and anyone who takes it at face value is a fool.
- RWPossumLv 72 years ago
"Republic" is from a Latin word that means "the people." "Democracy" is from a Greek word that means "the people."
The first two political parties in the US were the Federalists and the Democratic Republicans.
- The First DragonLv 72 years ago
Well, we do have one vote per adult citizen, which not all republics have had.
- EisbärLv 72 years ago
No, we live in both. You're mixing up your terms. You're assuming when people say we live in a Democracy, that we're saying we live in a "pure democracy" or a "direct democracy" when we're not. We're meaning we live in a representative democracy, which by definition, makes us a "republic." And because we have states, they call our form of government a federal republic.
A republic is representative government ruled by fundamental rules of law, according to the United States Constitution. A republic recognizes the unalienable truth of Gods Laws and the rights of individuals.
Like we couldn't put to a vote whether we should only tax people who have blue eyes, because blue eyes are minority, so then they would be unfairly taxed. A pure democracy would essentially just be "mob rule."
They actually learned the hard way that this didn't work so well in Athens, so hence why we don't have it that way. Although Switzerland I think actually does... not sure. I'd have to look it up.
Also, with 330 million people, can you imagine us being a pure democracy, and not a representative democracy? Can you imagine every single law being voted on??? That would be insane. Midterms were bad enough...
- Anonymous2 years ago
A constitutional republic who's constitution establishes a representative democracy.
- Anonymous2 years ago
Are you one of the conservatards that scream how Hitler was a liberal socialist?
- Anonymous2 years ago
Yes and we're the only country with a constitution.