Difference between revisions of "A republic, not a democracy"

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The slogan '''"a republic, not a democracy"''' is used by some to alert listeners to the particular kind of [[democracy]] which the United States Constitution provides.
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The slogan '''"a republic, not a democracy"''' refers to the difference between [[direct democracy]] and [[representative democracy]].
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The distinction is between [[direct democracy]] in which everyone votes, and the majority rules; and a [[representative democracy]] in which executives are elected to rule the people.  
  
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The distinction is between [[direct democracy]] in which everyone votes, and the majority rules; and a [[representative democracy]] in which executives are elected to rule the people.  
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The ancient Greeks had direct democracy, i.e., the people voted, and the decision of the majority prevailed. Some New England town meetings are like that. In some U.S. states, a proposition will go on the ballot and be decided by voters directly, but this is rare; see [[legislature]].
  
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The phrase "not a democracy" is unfortunate because its meaning within the slogan is "not a [[direct democracy]]" but it can easily be taken as "not a democracy at all". Critics of the US, who want to accuse it falsely of not being democratic love to exploit this ambiguity.
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Although the slogan is used by some to alert listeners to the particular kind of [[democracy]] which the United States Constitution provides, it is misleading because the phrase "not a democracy" implies that representative democracy is not a democracy at all - a notion which most political scientists would reject as nonsense. democracy]] is the only real type of democracy.
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The phrase '''not a democracy''' is sometimes used to point out the difference between [[direct democracy]] and [[representative democracy]]. The phrase can be misleading, if someone uses it to argue that [[representative democracy]] is not [[democracy]] at all - or that [[direct democracy]] is the only real type of democracy.
 

Revision as of 23:54, January 1, 2008

The slogan "a republic, not a democracy" refers to the difference between direct democracy and representative democracy. The distinction is between direct democracy in which everyone votes, and the majority rules; and a representative democracy in which executives are elected to rule the people.

The ancient Greeks had direct democracy, i.e., the people voted, and the decision of the majority prevailed. Some New England town meetings are like that. In some U.S. states, a proposition will go on the ballot and be decided by voters directly, but this is rare; see legislature.

Although the slogan is used by some to alert listeners to the particular kind of democracy which the United States Constitution provides, it is misleading because the phrase "not a democracy" implies that representative democracy is not a democracy at all - a notion which most political scientists would reject as nonsense. democracy]] is the only real type of democracy.

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