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- Oct 5, 2015
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One occasionally hears, "The United States is a republic, not a democracy."
What does this statement mean? Is it true? Should it be true?
In my opinion there is no contradiction between a government being a republic and a democracy. A republic is a government that is not ruled by an hereditary monarch. A democracy is a government where the rulers are elected by the voters. The UK is not a republic. It is a democracy, and the oldest one in fact. Most contemporary dictatorships are republics, but not democracies.
Also, where did the saying, "The United States is a republic, not a democracy" originate? Who first said it?
From what I have been able to find out this saying originated with the John Birch Society. A significant percentage of the Republican Party did not accept the reforms of the New Deal. They hoped that President Eisenhower would reverse these reforms. Eisenhower did not, because he knew that they were popular.
When reactionaries came to agree that the reforms of the New Deal were popular with the voters, they invented this saying in order to deny that the will of the majority has moral and legal significance.
Or so it seems to me. :twocents:
What does this statement mean? Is it true? Should it be true?
In my opinion there is no contradiction between a government being a republic and a democracy. A republic is a government that is not ruled by an hereditary monarch. A democracy is a government where the rulers are elected by the voters. The UK is not a republic. It is a democracy, and the oldest one in fact. Most contemporary dictatorships are republics, but not democracies.
Also, where did the saying, "The United States is a republic, not a democracy" originate? Who first said it?
From what I have been able to find out this saying originated with the John Birch Society. A significant percentage of the Republican Party did not accept the reforms of the New Deal. They hoped that President Eisenhower would reverse these reforms. Eisenhower did not, because he knew that they were popular.
When reactionaries came to agree that the reforms of the New Deal were popular with the voters, they invented this saying in order to deny that the will of the majority has moral and legal significance.
Or so it seems to me. :twocents: