3 ms·

US was never a democracy it is a republic as written into the constitution. When US was founded most of the people writing the constitution spoke strongly again

US was never a democracy it is a republic as written into the constitution. When US was founded most of the people writing the constitution spoke strongly against democracy. There is a vast difference in the 2 forms of government.

rdancer 10y ago
What GP means is that US is no longer a republic. Unifying aspect of the Obama, Sanders, and Trump campaigns is tapping the desire of the American public to make it one again.
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  > What GP means is that US is no longer a republic. No, what GP means is that the US is no longer a democratic republic (which is, as the term "democracy" is generally used today, a form of "democracy", rather than an alternative to it.) The complaint GP makes does not contrast with a republic in any way, as all a Republic means is that it is a system of government where government isn't by (or exercising powers derived, at least in principle, from) a monarch.
  - rdancer 10y ago
    A republic is a government of laws, and not of men. The US, most decidedly, isn't. John Adams argues the semantics much better than I ever could: They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men. If this definition be just, the British constitution is nothing more nor less than a republic, in which the king is first magistrate. This office being hereditary, and being possessed of such ample and splendid prerogatives, is no objection to the government’s being a republic, as long as it is bound by fixed laws, which the people have a voice in making, and a right to defend. An empire is a despotism, and an emperor a despot, bound by no law or limitation but his own will; it is a stretch of tyranny beyond absolute monarchy. -- Novanglus, February 6, 1775 The opposite of republic is not monarchy, it is tyranny. The only way out of tyranny for the U.S. is, by definition, to restore the rule of law, which the GP seems to clamour for.
dbenhur 10y ago
republic: a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch. democracy: A system of government in which power is vested in the people, who rule either directly or through freely elected representatives _Vastly_ different

rdancer 10y ago

What GP means is that US is no longer a republic. Unifying aspect of the Obama, Sanders, and Trump campaigns is tapping the desire of the American public to make it one again.

dragonwriter 10y ago
> What GP means is that US is no longer a republic. No, what GP means is that the US is no longer a democratic republic (which is, as the term "democracy" is generally used today, a form of "democracy", rather than an alternative to it.) The complaint GP makes does not contrast with a republic in any way, as all a Republic means is that it is a system of government where government isn't by (or exercising powers derived, at least in principle, from) a monarch.
- rdancer 10y ago
  A republic is a government of laws, and not of men. The US, most decidedly, isn't. John Adams argues the semantics much better than I ever could: They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men. If this definition be just, the British constitution is nothing more nor less than a republic, in which the king is first magistrate. This office being hereditary, and being possessed of such ample and splendid prerogatives, is no objection to the government’s being a republic, as long as it is bound by fixed laws, which the people have a voice in making, and a right to defend. An empire is a despotism, and an emperor a despot, bound by no law or limitation but his own will; it is a stretch of tyranny beyond absolute monarchy. -- Novanglus, February 6, 1775 The opposite of republic is not monarchy, it is tyranny. The only way out of tyranny for the U.S. is, by definition, to restore the rule of law, which the GP seems to clamour for.

dbenhur 10y ago

republic: a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch. democracy: A system of government in which power is vested in the people, who rule either directly or through freely elected representatives _Vastly_ different