Did you know the United States of America is not a democracy?

Question

Its a republic not a democracy.

on a note to gemma,

Its not cause of the powers of the president. vetos can be overruled by the 2/3 vots of congress. its a republic because we vote for congressmen and representives. who then vote for president. your vote for president actually doesnt matter at all.

to biggbru,
that is what i was tryin to point out. :) cheers for you

to lou,
i was just pointing something out. I love this country. i cant wait till i can actually vote.

Answer 1

You're quite right, Joel; the United States is not a Democracy. If you look at the Founding Fathers, you'll quickly discover that they detested Democracy. John Adams once said that all Democracies end in suicide. His views were the same as the rest of the founders who viewed Democracy as a form of mob-rule.

When the Founders wrote the Constitution in 1787 they gave the people as little control over the government as possible. Take a look, and you'll see.

THE EXECUTIVE:
The President was not to be elected by the people, but by the Electoral College. Contrary to what you've posted above, the Electors were not members of Congress. Members of Congress are, in fact. specifically forbidden to serve as electors. The Electors were to be chosen by the various state legislatures, with each state receiving votes equivalent to the size of a state's Congressional delegation. So, If a state had two Senators, and three members of the House of Representatives, they would be given 5 Electoral votes. The electors were supposed to be leading citizens in the states. These people would meet every four years and choose whomever they believed to be the best person in the land, and confer the presidency on him. The people had no say. NO DEMOCRACY.

THE JUDICIARY:
The federal court judges were selected by the president and ratified by the Senate (which as you'll see, was also not elected by the people). Once the judges were ratified, they sat for life, and could never be voted off. And that is the way it still works today. The People have no say. NO DEMOCRACY.

THE LEGISLATURE:
The Senators were originally appointed to six year terms by the state legislatures. The people didn't vote on them until the 20th century. And remember, the non-democratically elected president chose the non-democratically appointed federal court judges, who secured their jobs be being ratified by the Non-democratically appointed Senate. NO DEMOCRACY.

The House of Representaives was democratically elected -- but not really. While member of the House were directly voted on by the people, consider that the "people" meant a very small percentage of the total populatation. To vote, you hade to be: Male, White, and in many states, a landholder as well. So that means you had to be wealthier than most. NOT VERY DEMOCRATIC.

So add it all up, Joel. The Founders hated Democracy, so they tried to put a lid on it. And though Americans have changed elements of it -- to this day, all federal judges are appointed by the President and Ratified by the Senate, the President is still not voted on by the people directly, it is still done by the electoral college (which is why George Bush, who lost the popular vote in 2000 still became president).

I hope this answer helps.

Answer 2

If you want to get technical it's a democratic republic, but you're really splitting semantic hairs.

And even if the "official title" of the country is republic, the USA is a de facto democracy by virtue of the fact that it is governed by elected representatives; that's more or less the only requisite quality for a government to be democratic.

A final note, a country can be both a republic and a democracy, as these terms are not mutually exclusive; a republic is just a system of political organization which is not headed by a monarch. In fact, the two very frequently coincide.

Answer 3

well, the republic votes for the democratic choices, They are all just words. We as a people regulate the United States of America. and if you have any doubt about that, ask any old lady that's been on welfare all her life, or any dedicated Army Soldier. They will both give you the same answer. You 'obviously' never attended college, because you don't know what you are asking, but to answer your question, YES, AMERICA IS A DEMOCRACY. we might argue over the difination of it, but we live in a democracy so that we have the RIGHT to do that.

Answer 4

oh is that what the whole....
To the Republic, for which it stands, one nation undergod, indivisible for liberty and justice for all.... thing means????
As for the voting for president, you are referring to the Electoral College. Basically that is, if the candidate gets the most votes from that state then they win the whole state. So yes it does matter. You have got to get your state to vote for the candidate of your choice before you move on to the rest of the country.
As for Veto Power, you are talking about checks and balances. To ensure one branch doesn't control the country and create a non democratic society.

Answer 5

america. Democratic prestige. grow to be the source of the debate at Valley Forge. The founding fathers have been democratic. the individuals who needed a republic enormously much starved the excellent American military out to coach their component. Then it grow to be set up as a democracy for the individuals and Thomas Jefferson ended up talking plenty approximately it. Then those losers called the puratins got here in, representing the republic (huge businesses). They fought for enormously much one hundred years to opposite the form and all the equivalent rights stuff. Now you notice it, they nevertheless attempt to make it a nazi or king james state. yet maximum of what they have finished is public. by way of fact of their joker mentality, now many extensive financial industry based entities have greater capability then human beings and relatively contradict what usa stands for. usa is meant to be a democracy, yet by way of corrupt idiots who took unrestrained strikes. some issues like the federal government. even however they seem to be a company. As a ruling physique. it incredibly is in basic terms a mish mash of excellent human beings and grimy people who help company over human beings.

Answer 6

It isn't a republic either. It is a democratic republic. You see in a republic people aren't elected, there is just a ruling group of people at the top to represent an area be damned if they are there by the will of the people or not.

In a democratic republic people are elected to serve as the ruling group by the majority of the public.

Answer 7

Correct, it is a republic, or a 'repsentative democracy' rather. Perhaps we could, with technology, vote on things by popular vote, or at least the top 5% of bills, laws and all that, this would be a vastly different country.

Answer 8

It is a republic, not a democracy.

Their are too many people in this country, for each and every vote to be counted on every issue presented.

Thus, the people's interests are represented by virtual representation.

Unfortunately, not all of our representatives properly represent the interests of their constituents.

Answer 9

It's also an Aristocracy, as in "ruled by a select few with $$$".

But isn't it ironic that the Prez keeps talking about spreading Democracy throughout the Middle East, yet it hasn't really spread here?

Hypocrisy at its best.

Answer 10

Yes, I knew that. Our government is actually a mixture of a polity/republic, democracy, aristocracy, and oligachy.