Democracy was started in Ancient Greece, and the word Democracy in Greek is “demos kratia,” which in English, literally means “people rule.”
Therefore, let’s not be confused or misled: here in The United States, we are not living in a true democracy… If anything, we have a Representative form of Democracy.
In reality, we are a Republic… which is a state or a country that is not led by a monarchy, and which the people (or part of the people) have an impact on it’s government. More broadly, we are a Constitutional Republic, governed by laws, and by which the people are represented by elected officials.
The word Republic is derived from the Latin phrase “res publica,“ which is translated to English as “public thing,” or “public affair.”
Article 4, Section 4, of The United States Constitution:
“The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,…”
Saturday, 30. May 2009
I read, in Ancient Greece, for about one-hundred years, each year they would literally draw 500 names of citizens, and those 500 citizens had to serve as law-makers for one year; after one year, another 500 names were selected, and so on. The votes was based on a majority rules.
Friday, 26. June 2009
Wow! You were half right… I got to read a pretty well-researched article, then everything at TPP chat dropped out of sight. Nice looking blog Mark.
Thank you for the interesting article too.
Karen
Monday, 10. August 2009
The French political philosopher, Charles-Louis de Secondat (Baron de Montesquieu), is famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of powers, and was very influential on our founders; including James Madison, who is considered the father of The United States Constitution.
Wednesday, 12. August 2009
I don’t believe there is a definitive answer to the question, as to exactly how a Representative should effectively represent their constituents in Congress; however, from my point of view, I perceive it to be something like this:
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Republic (In The U.S.) = Representative democracy
Democracy: The majority of the constituent’s votes rule.
Representation: Representative casts the majority vote of their constituents in Congress.
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Of course that does not answer the question of how each person in the constituency would cast their votes, but theoretically, that would give everyone in the country a fair vote, in respects to each piece of legislation.
Thursday, 7. January 2010
Please also see:
The Stages of Democracy