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Where does this idiosyncratic definition of “republic” come from that means something incompatible with “democracy”? I’ve heard it before (always in a US contex
by School-Cotton 3y ago
Where does this idiosyncratic definition of “republic” come from that means something incompatible with “democracy”? I’ve heard it before (always in a US context), but the more usual definition of “republic” is just “a country whose head of state is not a monarch”.
- smrtinsert 3y agoThe only context I've seen is support for gerrymandering, stripping voting rights and support for the electoral college.
- dragonwriter 3y agoIt also is a prominent defense of unequal (by population; equal by states) representation in the Senate as a desirable feature rather than a defect in the US’s Constitutional design.
- dragonwriter 3y agoI think it comes from very specific, narrow, idiosyncratic understandings of democracy (unconstrained majoritarianism, either direct or representative) and republicanism (government by elected and/or appointed magistrates each and collectively exercising well-defined, limited authority.) Its a view in which democracy, like absolute monarchy, is the rule of men, whereas republicanism is the rule of laws.