Originally posted by: GroundedSailor
Originally posted by: Worlocked
Originally posted by: GroundedSailor
Originally posted by: Worlocked
Originally posted by: techs
Way before the war on terror is over the US will be a democracy in name only.
Was never a Democracy and hopefully never will be.
CONSTITUTIONAL FEDERAL REPUBLIC
"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
Sounds exactly like the 2004 presidential election in this CONSTITUTIONAL FEDERAL REPUBLIC :laugh:
Any way you slice it, this is a democracy.
Wrong.
You do realize that there are 2 meanings of the word democracy - one as a
type of government and the other a
form of government!
Yes, I do. Our government fits neither discription. You could argue that we are a representative Democracy, but you would be wrong, the Constitution is the highest order of law, or more specificly, the SCOTUS.
From wikipedia:
The definition of the word 'democracy' from the time of ancient Greece up to now has not been constant. In contemporary usage, the term 'democracy' refers to a government chosen by the people, whether it is direct or representative.
There is another definition of democracy, particularly in constitutional theory and in historical usages and especially when considering the works of the American "Founding Fathers." According to this usage, the word 'democracy' refers solely to direct democracy, whilst a representative democracy where representatives of the people govern in accordance with a constitution is referred to as a 'republic.' This older terminology retains some popularity in U.S. conservative and Libertarian debate.
The original framers of the U.S. Constitution were notably cognizant of what they perceived as a danger of majority rule in oppressing freedom of the individual. (See Tyranny of the majority below). For example, James Madison, in Federalist Paper No. 10 advocates a republic over a democracy precisely to protect the individual from the majority. [3] However, at the same time, the framers carefully created democratic institutions and major open society reforms within the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. They kept what they believed were the best elements of democracy, but mitigated by a balance of power and a layered federal structure.
Modern definitions of the term 'republic,' however, refer to any state with an elective head of state serving for a limited term, in contrast to most contemporary hereditary monarchies which are representative democracies and constitutional monarchies adhering to parliamentarism. (Older elective monarchies are also not considered to be republics.)
Also see;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotus
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