What is Democracy?

Question

Question asked by Johnny in Dalton Trumbo's movie "Johnny Got His Gun."

Johnny's Dad's answer was "It has something to do with young men killing each other, I believe."

Do you agree? Any wider interpretation of the word?

Answer 1

Hi *shippo* I don't think you want a dictionary definition of the word, do you?!!
So you're back to "Johnny got his gun!"( the book ? not the movie? :-))) No wonder you're feeling half dead!

Johnny's dad provided a brutal answer , but he had a point!
Indeed, a democracy allows you to draft young men to go to war and die. It gives itself the "mission" to spread freedom (!) to the world ,( to those who don't know about democracy), or to free people from repression ( a noble cause) in order to bring in democracy.-- through conflict! This of course implies a paternalistic attitude well disguised behind altruism at its best.
The absurdity of it all is that in order to achieve the "mission" it sacrifices its own citizens..Ironic, isn't it?
There are many fake democracies nowadays..( banana republics and the like...) Isn't it about time the terminology was reviewed perhaps??
Cynical , moi?? ah ha ha

...............................
*charles...; your answer suddenly reminded me of the awesome film " born on the 4th of july" ..cqfd

Answer 2

Democracy works excellent societies that significance individuality like ours. Which does not make it the excellent. In cultures that significance nationalism (china), communism works excellent. In societies that significance spirituality (iran) theocracy works excellent (despite the fact that iran is kinda unhealthy at it). The handiest real democracy on the earth is Switzerland, wherein legislation are handed whilst a petition for a detailed legislation earnings X quantity of signatures. Needless to mention, in small international locations like switzerland, it really works splendidly. However in a massive nation of hundreds of thousands of thousands of men and women, just like the US, democracy is useless and undecisive. Unfortunately a democratic republic is the excellent procedure now we have arise with to this point. Still higher than a dictatorship. Communism is extra effective in conception, disasterous in train. And usually each different variety of presidency is a dictatorship in a single sort or an additional.

Answer 3

Here is part of the defination. The rest is at the third link I have enclosed at the source list below. Hope it helps.

DEFINING DEMOCRACY
Government of the People
Democracy may be a word familiar to most, but it is a concept still misunderstood and misused in a time when totalitarian regimes and military dictatorships alike have attempted to claim popular support by pinning democratic labels upon themselves. Yet the power of the democratic idea has also evoked some of history's most profound and moving expressions of human will and intellect: from Pericles in ancient Athens to Vaclav Havel in the modern Czech Republic, from Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence in 1776 to Andrei Sakharov's last speeches in 1989.

In the dictionary definition, democracy "is government by the people in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system." In the phrase of Abraham Lincoln, democracy is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people."

Answer 4

To me, Democracy is about choice and giving the people a voice. It is about giving the people a choice in what the government does and a voice to change it. It is not a perfect system but its about as good as it gets.

There is some truth in Johnny's dad's words. There comes a time when the people must fight in order to preserve democracy, And inevitably there are times when all people, not just young people, have to pay the ultimate price in order to maintain it.

Answer 5

Dear,

Democracy;
(A country having) a form of government in which the people have power freely to elect representative to carry on the government.
(Chambers Essential English Dictionary)

To my personal "VIEW" meaning of Democracy been used by the American people which they have chosen the right most word;

OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE".

In larger scale of DEMOCRACY:
Few words in the modern political lexicon are used more often or more confusing than "democracy.". In the great struggle of the cold war following World War ll, the "Western democracies" in the Soviet and Chinese orbits-each committed to the preservation and eventual triumph of what was alleged to be the only truly democratic society. In the West it has been argued that liberty and popular sovereignty are essential ingredients of democracy. On the other hand, the Communist party of the Soviet Union has declared that it is guided always by the Leninist principle of "democratic centralism". Stalin boasted that his 1936 constitution was "the most democratic in the world". Can a word that is widely used in such widely varying ways he said to any real meaning?. If it does, it is clear that we must seek the meaning in the origins and history rather than in its current usage.

ANCIENT GREECE:
From the very begining, 'democracy" has been used in two quite distinct, although related, ways. It has had both a specific, political meaning and a general sociological meaning. The first of these is very clearly implied in the Greek roots ot the word 'demokratia: 'demos', "the people," and 'kratos', "rule". In this sense, democracy is a form of government in which political power is regularly exercised by the citizenry. This definition is intended, among other things, to distinguish democracy from anarchy in the sense of absence of government, or the rule of each person by himself. The paradox that the rulers and ruled in a democracy are in a real sense the same people fascinated and perplexed the ancient Greeks, who may be said to have invented not only the word but the reality of democracy as well.

As an example of Political party:

John F. Kennedy in 1960 narrowly capture the white house. Nevertheless, Kennedy's New Frontier and later President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration clearly reafirmed the party's predominantly liberal dedication. The overwhelming victory of Johnson and his party over the markedly conservative Republican program in the 1964 election gave the Democrats a mandate of historical dimensions.
(FRANK FREIDEL, Harvard University)

Answer 6

“justme” has offered some excellent dictionary definitions, For example, the basic definition is government by the people, and to most that means a people who vote and decide on what they want as a government and what they want government to do and not to do. Sounds simple. Who wouldn’t understand something so simple? But then that simple definition can be restated even more simply as, “majority rule.”

However democracy is merely a process. A process without meaning in and of itself. A process where it would be a mistake to place a value on it without considering it within a cultural context. Many different types of government can be supported with democracy. For example, in the United States, in some areas (such as in some New England Townships) they have township meetings where all community members can attend meetings and vote on any office or issue. In all such votes the majority wins. That is certainly a democracy.

On the other hand some countries have had the people vote on a single ruler who has all power while in office and makes all decisions. That too is a form of democracy.

Other countries have a voting democracy of the people which is qualified to be legitimate as long as it results in rulers and laws which fit within a specific ideology, such as a monarchy or a religious teaching.

The form of democracy that individuals seem to prefer arise from the culture that has developed in their region. That is, democracy is as much a creature of evolution as the culture itself. For example, the founding of the United States (ratification of the Constitution) didn’t simply happen but was the result of 3,000 years of cultural evolution originating in the Common Law arising from the Celtic and Saxon cultures of England. This can be seen to have first formalized in the Magna Carta (1215 CE) and continued to evolve as the Common Law of England. Many sources contributed to this evolution but a expanding element was the view of individual rights as something separate from a ruling entity.

At the time of the Founding of the United States there were thirteen Nation States each free, independent, and sovereign (refer to the 1783 Treaty of Peace) and each viewing itself as a protector of individual rights considering them as natural in origin. While each of these States saw a need for common purpose and action, each highly valued its independence. Developing a Constitution to accommodate all of these individual requirements was a major task. What was finally agreed to did take into consideration a form of democracy. The people voted for local representatives. The people voted for some of the representatives at the national level (a member of the House of Representatives who directly represented their interests). The State legislatures (elected by direct vote of the people of that State) elected the national representatives of the upper house (the Senate). The State legislatures selected Electors for the Electoral College which in turn elected the National President.

In this representative structure (of a Republic) the democratic process was maintained but decisions were made through representatives. More over, such decisions that were made had to meet the requirements of a written Constitution which evolved out of that Common Law origin. Through this approach democracy was not rule by majority (mob rule), but the is democracy supportive of the rights of the individual. That is, those in government could not simply do as they wished. However, none of this means anything without an educated, involved people. The people must be involved at the local level and at the State level and at the national level. Democracy is the voting of the people. Democracy is a structure. Democracy is an evolutionary development. Democracy is the involvement of the people.

Answer 7

Johnny's dad hit it pretty close to the head. When i was a young lad i fell for the propaganda of the times and volunteered to fight in Viet Namn at the tender age of 17. It didn't take me long to fig er out that the Communism i thought i was fighting and the democracy i was fighting for were not what i had been dreaming them to be.

Answer 8

Literally it means government by the people.

It has been promoted to a meaningless quasi religious term in some countries along with the related term 'freedom'. Both terms are often paradoxically invoked to garner popular support for such things as corporate wars (hence the quote you mentioned) and suspension of individual liberties, etc.

Answer 9

The opportunity to "throw out the bums" every once in a while.

Answer 10

democracy is a government formed by the people from voting.(by the people for the people from the people)