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Disambiguation is called for in respect to what democracy actually is... http://www.diffen.com/difference/Democracy_vs_Republic http://www.diffen.com/differenc

by D9u 13y ago

Disambiguation is called for in respect to what democracy actually is... http://www.diffen.com/difference/Democracy_vs_Republic http://www.diffen.com/difference/Democracy_vs_Republic Black's Law Dictionary says that the difference between a democracy and a republic is that sovereignty is retained by the individual within a republic. (USA is a Constitutional Republic) The article fails to note that democracy does not preclude communism, and the DPRK (http://www.korea-dpr.com/ http://www.korea-dpr.com/) is a classic democratic communist nation in which the people have no individual sovereignty in lieu of that sovereignty being relegated to the collective in the name of the greater good for the nation.

mtgx 13y ago
Aren't all existing democracies republics? Personally I think the pendulum needs to swing a lot more in favor of true democracy, and accountability of those "few" representatives in power. Because it doesn't look like the current system, where the pendulum swings a lot more in favor of the representatives, has been working very well. We need more direct democracy, more referendums, more citizen law-making, where the representatives are only a relative "check" on that citizen power (to prevent extreme abuses of "mob rule").
- D9u 13y ago
  Isn't "true democracy" a form of civilized mob rule? Why should individual sovereignty be forfeit in favor of the group sovereignty that is democracy? East Germany was another "Democratic Republic," which didn't turn out so well. Is the fault with "democracy," or the "republic?" (these terms have little relevance to America's present political parties) Or is it some other aspect. In my estimation, if a nation's citizens have no individual sovereignty, that nation cannot be properly referred to as a republic, yet such nations do fit the definition of "democracy" by virtue of the sovereignty enjoyed by the collective majority.
  - asgard1024 13y ago
    East Germany was only called "democratic republic", in reality it was neither. The fault isn't within those terms; the fault was that calling it that way was simply a lie. You also ask: "Why should individual sovereignty be forfeit in favor of the group sovereignty that is democracy?" Because we want to agree on certain things. Human societies have evolutionary advantage over independent sets of humans.
- coldarchon 13y ago
  >We need more direct democracy, more referendums, Have a look at the history of referendums in Norway, in 1916 they voted to ban alcohol, just to vote 10 years later to bring back the booze ..

by D9u 13y ago

mtgx 13y ago

Aren't all existing democracies republics? Personally I think the pendulum needs to swing a lot more in favor of true democracy, and accountability of those "few" representatives in power. Because it doesn't look like the current system, where the pendulum swings a lot more in favor of the representatives, has been working very well. We need more direct democracy, more referendums, more citizen law-making, where the representatives are only a relative "check" on that citizen power (to prevent extreme abuses of "mob rule").

D9u 13y ago
Isn't "true democracy" a form of civilized mob rule? Why should individual sovereignty be forfeit in favor of the group sovereignty that is democracy? East Germany was another "Democratic Republic," which didn't turn out so well. Is the fault with "democracy," or the "republic?" (these terms have little relevance to America's present political parties) Or is it some other aspect. In my estimation, if a nation's citizens have no individual sovereignty, that nation cannot be properly referred to as a republic, yet such nations do fit the definition of "democracy" by virtue of the sovereignty enjoyed by the collective majority.
- asgard1024 13y ago
  East Germany was only called "democratic republic", in reality it was neither. The fault isn't within those terms; the fault was that calling it that way was simply a lie. You also ask: "Why should individual sovereignty be forfeit in favor of the group sovereignty that is democracy?" Because we want to agree on certain things. Human societies have evolutionary advantage over independent sets of humans.
coldarchon 13y ago
>We need more direct democracy, more referendums, Have a look at the history of referendums in Norway, in 1916 they voted to ban alcohol, just to vote 10 years later to bring back the booze ..