[QUOTE=Sophistry and Illusion]
Well, it depends on how you define ‘democracy’. I guess I would define it as “Legislation is passed by direct majority vote of the majority of eligible voters.” Nowadays, ‘eligible voters’ means non-felons ages 18+. In the olden days, it meant male land-owning honkies. In Athens it meant whatever the hell it meant. So you might not classify those as democracies. But the point is that the founding fathers were absolutely explicit that they did not want direct governance by the people–not even just by male land-owning honkies. They thought that the people were too ill-informed, too likely to be lead by their passions, etc., etc. Hell, if we had a direct democracy, I think there is some non-zero chance we would have nuked the Middle East after 9-11. The founding fathers, whatever their faults, recognized this, and so set up an intermediary between the people and legislation–namely, the elected representatives of the legislative houses of Congress.
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Wasn’t the idea ( both then and now ) that " they know what’s best .. for US " ?
Kinda like the Gov. is acting like parents to/for the masses/children ?
( geez.. that’s about as inarticulate as hell . Hope you get what I mean )
The people being " too ill-informed", " not knowing what they REALLY want/need",
passionate, etc seems to me to be elitist and condescending. Whom the hells is the Gov. to tell me what’s best for me? As an adult, I would like to think I can make that decision for myself.. and if I’m wrong, I am willing to accept the consequences of my wrong decision. I don’t need, or want, the Gubbment telling me to buckle up, wipe my nose and otherwise treating me like a four year old. ..
“Trust us, we know what’s best for you”… But I digress.
Realistically, do you not think it is possible that “The Masses” could be presented with as much OBJECTIVE information as possible, and a vote held, and things would not be better than they are now? If we were to actually have a Democracy, would things like the infamous “bridge to nowhere”, and other pork slipped into bills, etc be so prevalent? Would there be 9 Billion ( and counting ) in graft in Iraq?
Would there even be a War, if we, the People, had been told facts ( such as there were no WMD, that NONE of the terrorists were from Iraq, etc,etc ad nausea, and allowed to vote? Yes, passions and emotions and tempers were high.. but I’d like to think that the majority of the people are thoughtful, intelligent and would have been calm and dispassionate enough to have seen the proposal for war as what it was/is. ( a VERY BAD IDEA ( keep in mind I say this as someone that has spent nearly their entire adult life in the military ).
I don’t understand what makes our “leaders” supposedly smarter, wiser, whatever: are they not people, like everyone else? Frankly, any time I hear " we know what’s best" it makes my teeth itch and my blood run cold.
Thank you for putting your finger on the problem so succinctly! Yes, the United States is a republic, not a democracy. That is exactly what is wrong with it!