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The fact remains that you are famed on these boards for having zero respect for democracy,
Prattle such as your response above, is one of the many factors which makes the corporate bodies who are driving wedges between your nations people, capable of hijacking your republic in the first place.
One thing I keep seeing all over the place during this government shutdown is how America’s “democracy” is at risk. Thomas Friedman penned a piece the other day claiming this. Now, I don’t know if Friedman’s overall argument is right. It’s certainly alarming that our political parties can’t seem to agree on much. But one thing that is definitely wrong is this constant reference to the USA as a “democracy”. The USA is not a democracy. This is a point that I see all the time so let me explain why it’s important.
When the founding fathers considered the various forms of government they were extremely fearful of tyranny AND anarchy. They viewed government as something that could both serve the people and protect it from its own people. This was a simple, but brilliant perspective. They specifically designed the government so that it protected “we the people” from ourselves and also from its own powers. So they created a Constitution that specified the precise checks and balances that should be in place to ensure that no branch of the government could grow too powerful. But they also ensured that the country was a republic, which meant that the power rests with the people who can choose their representatives and alter the course of future legislation. These representatives don’t only serve their constituents, but they also adhere to the guidelines of the Constitution. This government was designed to serve the people and to help create balance so that the private sector could not abuse itself, but also designed to ensure that the public sector could not abuse the private sector.
Indeed, as we celebrate Tuesday the 226th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution, all Americans ought to reflect on Benjamin Franklin's reply on being asked, regarding the miracle in Philadelphia, "What have we got — a republic or a monarchy?"
A republic," he declared, "if you can keep it."
In fact, the United States is and always has been a republic, not a democracy. When saluting Old Glory, Americans pledge allegiance to the flag — and the republic for which it stands.
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How often have you heard people refer to America as a Democracy? When was the last time that you heard America referred to as a Republic? There is a very good reason that our Pledge of Allegiance refers to our country as a Republic and there is a very good reason that our Declaration of Independence and our constitution do not even mentioned the word "democracy".
Many people are under the false impression our form of government is a democracy, or representative democracy. This is of course completely untrue. The Founders were extremely knowledgeable about the issue of democracy and feared a democracy as much as a monarchy. They understood that the only entity that can take away the people's freedom is their own government, either by being too weak to protect them from external threats or by becoming too powerful and taking over every aspect of life.
They knew very well the meaning of the word "democracy", and the history of democracies; and they were deliberately doing everything in their power to prevent having a democracy.
In a Republic, the sovereignty resides with the people themselves. In a Republic, one may act on his own or through his representatives when he chooses to solve a problem. The people have no obligation to the government; instead, the government is a servant of the people, and obliged to its owner, We the People. Many politicians have lost sight of that fact.
A Constitutional Republic has some similarities to democracy in that it uses democratic processes to elect representatives and pass new laws, etc. The critical difference lies in the fact that a Constitutional Republic has a Constitution that limits the powers of the government. It also spells out how the government is structured, creating checks on its power and balancing power between the different branches.
The goal of a Constitutional Republic was to avoid the dangerous extreme of either tyranny or mobocracy but what exists in America today is a far cry from the Constitutional Republic our forefathers brought forth.
Today we have DO have a mobocracy occurring in our streets all across America.
"So this is how a Republic dies, with thunderous applause."
~Queen Amidala, Star Wars- The Phantom Menace
originally posted by: neo96
a reply to: TrueBrit
Prattle such as your response above, is one of the many factors which makes the corporate bodies who are driving wedges between your nations people, capable of hijacking your republic in the first place.
Is that right ?
It's the politicians that do that with identity politics.
I agree with you wholeheartedly neo96. Right now we have an oligarchy that holds power via corporatism (aka Facism).
Kleptocracy, alternatively cleptocracy or kleptarchy, is a form of political and government corruption where the government exists to increase the personal wealth and political power of its officials and the ruling class at the expense of the wider population, often with pretense of honest service.