Comment by IanDrake

13 years ago

>The cornerstone of liberal democracy is...

For the love of god or anything you find holy, STOP insisting we live in a democracy!

I stop reading any article that asserts we live in a democracy or should strive to live in one.

We live in a republic. http://www.c4cg.org/republic.htm

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8 comments

IanDrake

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dragonwriter  13 years ago

> We live in a republic

Republic refers to any form of government which is not a monarchy.

The US is a republic -- specifically, a federal republic -- it is also a democracy -- specifically a representative democracy.

The whole "The US is not a democracy, its a republic" thing makes as much as saying "16 isn't a perfect square, its an even number."

ubernostrum  13 years ago

For the love of god or anything you find holy, STOP insisting that only direct democracy counts as democracy!

  • IanDrake  13 years ago

    Even being succinct and saying "a representative democracy" doesn't imply a form of government which is constrained by a constitution.

    Saying democracy instead of republic just undermines the common understanding of how our government was setup to function.

    • dragonwriter  13 years ago

      > Even being succinct and saying "a representative democracy" doesn't imply a form of government which is constrained by a constitution.

      Neither does saying "republic". And "representative democracy" isn't succinct compared to "democracy", its verbose.

      > Saying democracy instead of republic just undermines the common understanding of how our government was setup to function.

      No more than saying "republic" instead of "democracy". A "federal republic that is also a representative democracy governed under a written constitution" would avoid that problem, but its a lot to write, when "democracy" is the part that is relevant to the point you are trying to make.

mindcrime  13 years ago

We live in a republic

A democratically elected representative republic, specifically. I agree that you are correct in a pedantic sense, but our society is a "democratic society" in a more general, looser sense. Given the context of TFA, I think the usage is correct enough.

sliverstorm  13 years ago

We live in a republic, but is a republic not extremely similar to a representative democracy?

  • dragonwriter  13 years ago

    "Republic" is essentially orthogonal to "representative democracy".

    The United States of America has a government which is both a republic (and, more specifically, a federal republic) and a representative democracy.

    There are republics that aren't any kind of democracy, and representative democracies that are not republics (e.g., the United Kingdom.)