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How many citizens, voters in the USA understand that we are not a pure democracy, and that we are actually a Constitutional Republic?

And do the American people know the difference?

2006-11-05 13:12:40 · 4 answers · asked by smatthies65 4 in Politics & Government Government

4 answers

I know the difference.

I've never voted on any national legislation. The people who represented me in the House and the Senate voted for the legislation, not me.

On the state level, my state was some of both a democracy and a republic. Most legislative proposals were voted on the people who represented me in the state legislature and on the local boards/councils. But on the state level I sometimes voted myself on proposed laws.

I personally don't care whether or not you call it "democracy" or "republic." We aren't, in fact, the kind of government we call ourselves. We call ourselves, interchangably, a "democracy" or a "republic" but we are, in fact, neither one. We are a judicial oligarchy. The U.S. Supreme Court steals power that doesn't belong to them. They pretend that they are objectively interpretting the U.S. Constitution, when what they are truly doing is sheer sophistry.

2006-11-05 13:22:36 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

You know this type of question, an elitist snobbery about the knowledge of Americans, is really starting to annoy me.

Most Americans are perfectly well aware that they elect people to do their governing for them, instead of voting on each and every issue. This is known as representative democracy. We are also a constitutional republic because we have a constitution that limits the power of our elected officials. In this respect, a constitutional republic is a subclass of representative democracy. Therefore it is perfectly correct to say that the USA is a democratic nation and that we have government by democracy, even though it isn't "pure".

I've met very few Americans who aren't comfortable with the fact that we elect representatives and they act in general interest, not as proxies, and that further their powers (and the entire governments') are limited by the constitution. Demanding they use the word "constitutional republic" is ridiculous semantics because our constitutional republic is a type of democratic government.

I would like to add that states which allow ballot measures do allow a type of pure democracy (although again limited by the constitution in that laws passed by this method must also hold up to court review).

2006-11-05 21:26:50 · answer #2 · answered by Tomteboda 4 · 1 0

I would actually argue that we were a Constitutional Republic and are now a Capitalistic Corporatocracy.

2006-11-05 21:20:33 · answer #3 · answered by Jared H 3 · 0 0

Most people can't be bothered to remember anything from civics/social studies classes. Sad but true.

2006-11-05 21:16:00 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0 1

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