Difference between revisions of "A republic, not a democracy"
(raw paste from not a democracy) |
(merging) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | |||
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. | 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. | ||
Revision as of 23:49, January 1, 2008
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.
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 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.
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.
