AURaptor 1,126 Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence. Every day our teachers or politicians are telling us how great it is that we live in a 'democracy'. Only one small problem. We don't. No where in the US Constitution does the word 'democracy' even appear. Nor in any of the following ammendments. Nor an ANY State Constitution as well. So what's the deal ? Why are we trying to instill 'democracy' in Iraq ? Oh, and how did one of our founding fathers feel about 'democracy' ?? A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. - Thomas Jefferson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Al 0 Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence. Every day our teachers or politicians are telling us how great it is that we live in a 'democracy'. Only one small problem. We don't. No where in the US Constitution does the word 'democracy' even appear. Nor in any of the following ammendments. Nor an ANY State Constitution as well. So what's the deal ? Why are we trying to instil 'democracy' in Iraq ? Oh, and how did one of our founding fathers feel about 'democracy' ?? A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. - Thomas Jefferson The US is some of both. We are a constitutional republic which relies on a representative democracy whose power is delineated by the constitution. Although, we also have some elements of a direct democracy in that the citizens often vote on referendums where the decision is based on majority rule. I think we're trying to instill the same kind of government in Iraq as we have here, that is, a constitutional republic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LegalEagle 22 Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 It's sad that our kids get this misinformation daily as they are skipping through the channels. Why can't we speak correctly about our form of government? I have often wondered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AURaptor 1,126 Posted January 12, 2007 Author Share Posted January 12, 2007 It's sad that our kids get this misinformation daily as they are skipping through the channels. Why can't we speak correctly about our form of government? I have often wondered. Ask the teacher's union. They're in charge of telling the teachers what to teach the kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Al 0 Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 It's sad that our kids get this misinformation daily as they are skipping through the channels. Why can't we speak correctly about our form of government? I have often wondered. Ask the teacher's union. They're in charge of telling the teachers what to teach the kids. Negative. Unless private school teachers belong to the teacher's union. A friend of mine's son attends a private school and we had this discussion about six months ago. I asked him what type of government we had and he said in his best 14 yr. old, smartass way, that everybody knows that we live in a democracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AURaptor 1,126 Posted January 13, 2007 Author Share Posted January 13, 2007 It's sad that our kids get this misinformation daily as they are skipping through the channels. Why can't we speak correctly about our form of government? I have often wondered. Ask the teacher's union. They're in charge of telling the teachers what to teach the kids. Negative. Unless private school teachers belong to the teacher's union. A friend of mine's son attends a private school and we had this discussion about six months ago. I asked him what type of government we had and he said in his best 14 yr. old, smartass way, that everybody knows that we live in a democracy. Decades of unionized teaching in public schools has filtered its way into some of the private sector as well. Not to mention who writes the books these kids 'learn' from. Private schools might not have unionized teachers, but those working behind the scenes still write the books that are full of this demoracy b.s. too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auburn85 432 Posted January 13, 2007 Share Posted January 13, 2007 yeah, i think some just want to live in a selective democracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quietfan 233 Posted January 15, 2007 Share Posted January 15, 2007 I was always taught that "democracy" simply means the people choose or elect their government, while "republican" simply means a smaller, more managable number of representatives make decisions on behalf of a larger, unmanagable mass of citizens. I don't see the two terms as mutually inclusive or exclusive. But technically, those representatives don't have to be chosen by the people (i.e., democratically elected) in order to constitute a "republican" form of government. We could, for example, make representative seats hereditary. (See Britain's House of Lords-Although even the UK has limited the power of the Lords. Commons really controls everything in Parliament.) I think most of us believe democratic elections make more sense and wouldn't really support a "hereditary" republic. Of course, the Constitution was orginally much less democratic than it has become over years of amendment and use. In the original document, Senators were appointed by State legislatures, not popularly elected (Article 1, Sec 3a--and not superseded until the 17th Amendment in 1913). The Electoral College was initially envisioned as an independent body of "wise men" voting their own individual consciences to chose a President, not just rubber stamping a popular vote. To this day, Article 2, Section 1b says "Each State shall appoint, in such a manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors..." All State legislatures have wisely directed that such appointments be made via the popular ballot, but Contitutionally, there's nothing to prevent a State Legislature from picking electors in some other way. Jefferson's concern about a "dictatorship" of the majority is a valid concern. That's why the protections of the Bill of Rights and other liberities written into the Constitution are so important, and why our Founding Fathers wisely made a super-super majority (2/3 of Congress + 3/4 of the States) necessary to change those. [That's also why I personally am extremely concerned any time I hear someone proposing to amend the Constitution in any way that reduces our liberties: banning flag-burning, abortion, or gay-marriage constitutionally, for example. To be fair, I'd have the same concerns about anyone wanting to revoke the 2nd Amendment.] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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