While “democracy” and “republic” have been historically pitted against one another, the reality is that the two terms enjoy considerable overlap. That’s the core of how our government works. When its monarchy was overthrown, Rome developed a republican system of government whereby citizens elected officials who were empowered to make decisions for the public. History also tells us that Rome was a republic, unlike Athens. The United States is a republic because our elected representatives exercise political power. These scholars understood representative democracy – the American variety – to be democracy all the same. But as Eugene Volokh notes in the Washington Post, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Noah Webster, Justice James Wilson and Chief Justice John Marshall all used the word. The Constitution does not use the term “democracy.” It’s true. More commonly, we exercise our political power in a different way: by voting in elections to choose our representatives. Some states and localities afford their citizens the right to use these measures to directly enact, change, or repeal laws themselves. That system of government, better understood today as direct democracy, lives on in the United States in the form of ballot initiatives and referenda.
They’d make these decisions themselves (or “directly”), not through any elected representatives. The city-state of Athens is credited with implementing a system of government of and by the people, whereby eligible citizens would congregate to make decisions.
It’s their word – demokratia – after all. We are commonly taught that democracy is a product of ancient Greece. This is where our history education might add some confusion. We’re not a “direct democracy,” but we are a “representative democracy.”
Yes, the United States is a democracy, since we, the people, hold the ultimate political power. Well, here's the answer: Is the United States a democracy? Copy and paste the text below, or send it in a new email message: People are always arguing about whether or not the United States is a democracy or a republic.
0 kommentar(er)
