I thought the US form of governance is called a Republic. If so, why arn't they telling everyone else to be a Republic rather than a democracy?
2006-08-24 22:25:12 · 24 answers · asked by Nothing to say? 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Government
The US is a republic. Problem is, so many people do not know the difference between a republic and a democracy, and those that do may not be very honest about it. Also, some states are more democratic than others. Complicating this is the fact that the two largest political parties use names that obscure their differences.
A republic runs by representation. The voters choose their representatives, the representatives vote on the issues. A democracy would be if the individual voters were responsible for voting on particular issues. We do have that in California, for a variety of "ballot propositions," but that is only one of the ways laws are passed in California.
A true democracy is not practical. People are not well-informed of the facts, the arguments on the issues from all sides, etc. It would be a full-time job to be a voter in a true democracy. But some people think the word Democracy is better, and so they use it rather than the admittedly rather stuffy term "republic."
Actually, what we should be encouraging is Constitutional Law. That is, a government established by written, ratified contract between the citizens and the government. Rules written up, the way our sporting events are played. When you have written rules, you have a limit to how far outside of fairness anyone can go. Even if you tweak the rules (as we do with amendments), the fundamental concept of playing fair remains.
2006-08-24 22:38:31 · answer #1 · answered by auntb93again 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's both. A republic (from Latin "res publica" roughly an entity of the people) is generally defined as a representative democracy (from Greek demo- + -cracy; goverment of the people) where the head of state is elected and generally serves a fixed term. However, this is not always true, for example, the USSR was a "republic" but had a dictatorship. It is often used to contrast with hereditary heads of state, such as monarchies. Therefore, a republic can be democratic, but not necessarily so. Also, monarchies can also be democratic, for example when it is a constitutional monarchy (UK, Canada, Spain, Sweden to name a few), as the head of state has limited (or no) political power, and simply serves as an apolitical representative of their country. And in answer to auntb93, many democracies do not have constitutions (for example, the UK), whilst many dictatorships do.
2006-08-25 00:18:53 · answer #2 · answered by sashmead2001 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You are deeply confused I feel. There seems to be some confusion between the general meaning of the words 'Republican' and 'Democrat' and the the two American political parties.
They are a republic and claim to be democratic (although a true democracy doesn't have friends and supporters appointed to positions of power so that the whim of the President isn't challenged.
2006-08-25 00:14:59 · answer #3 · answered by lykovetos 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Republic because the US has indirect voting through an electoral college and it's not like we as people directly vote for the president. Democracy was like the Greeks direct voting for president and we are like Rome a republic.
2006-08-25 05:35:10 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Republic because Democracy does not work
2006-08-24 22:30:58 · answer #5 · answered by mrharderson 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's a republic, but democracy sounds better, democracy can be described as an idea, where as a republic can't.
"We must bring republic to Iraq!"
See, just doesn't work.
2006-08-24 22:30:49 · answer #6 · answered by 006 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its a Democracy when the Democrats are in power and a Republic when the Republicans are in power.......at the moment it is a Dictatorship as there is a dick in power!
2006-08-24 22:33:46 · answer #7 · answered by G Man 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
People who live there think its a republic/democracy but its actually George Dubya Bushland and he gets to do what he likes.
2006-08-26 10:55:27 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Republic before the Civil W...(whoops...) War Between the States, Democracy after the 14th Amendment, (I think). (-Just found a web site esplaining it, need to read more on it.)
2006-08-24 22:38:32 · answer #9 · answered by sincere12_26 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The government at present in the USA is a waste,
The USA have two Major parties, the richest is the Republican party, but they do have a Democratic party and there are a few (but not many) independent members. but don't worry your head about that. It is money that rules the USA.
"Daddy Dave"
2006-08-24 22:35:37 · answer #10 · answered by Daddy Dave 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋