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How should they do it? Do you listen to everyone equally? Can it even be done?
by johnnyg 13y ago
How should they do it?
Do you listen to everyone equally? Can it even be done?
- AndrewKemendo 13y agoI have no idea how they should do it. It's just clear that if you have money, and a lot of it, you have a voice in shaping the world. If you don't have money regardless of what position you are in, you don't have a voice (extreme popular outliers excluded).
- Zikes 13y agoI'm pretty sure listening to everyone equally is the definition of democracy.
- droopybuns 13y agoIf only we lived in a democracy rather than a constitutional republic.
- aaron-lebo 13y agoHey now, if you are going to be pedantic make sure you get your facts straight. If I'm remembering right, prior to James Madison's writings, there wasn't a real distinction between democracy and republic, besides the fact that democracy was Greek and republic was Latin. Madison in the Federalist Papers made the distinction between democracy and republic that are your talking about, but it is pretty arbitrary. Now you are right that we don't live in a direct democracy (though states have features), but we are still a democracy and a republic. Now that I am being pedantic someone will probably point out where I am in error, but I just felt like posting some information for whoever may find it useful. :)
- droopybuns 13y agoYou are awesome and I enjoyed your pedant! :)
- deciplex 13y agoI've always understood democracy to refer to suffrage, limited or universal, while republic basically amounts to "not a principality" (which is not very descriptive).
- ton2lavega 13y agoNo, the distinction between democracy and republic was well established before Madison. It appears in James Harrington's works. It also appears in works of Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and even Aristotle. I could find the precise quotes of their works to support my point, but I'm not at home. If you're into this kind of stuff, I recommend Bernard Manin's The Principles of Representative Government. Sounds boring but it's actually a great book.
- aaron-lebo 13y agoThanks for your response. I had a feeling I was going of faulty memory myself. I will certainly find out about that book.
- johnnyg 13y agoOne person, one vote does not mean equal influence per citizen. I think "listen" deals in influence where as yes, one vote per citizen deals with democracy.
- ta_fbp 13y agoIn a democracy one person, one vote do mean equal influence per citizen, as in a democracy people decides policy. The USA is not a democracy, it is a republic, a system where people vote for a small number of representatives who then decides policy in the name of the people. Nowadays these two words have shifted in meaning in popular usage, what used to be democracy is now called direct democracy and what used to be a distinct republic is now indirect democracy or representative democracy a.k.a. democracy. This kind of slippery semantics is most probably a consequence of years of propaganda to persuade people they live in a democracy so they won't ask for one. Then again, in the USA as many other places around the world, this small number of elected representatives holding the power of policy are subjected to the oligarchic / plutocratic power and influence of a few wealthy entities. Or as better said in this quote: «the 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy.»