quote: Some of the latter made a point of saying that America had been born a republic but not a democracy.
This is literally the most stupid of arguments that is made by people on the right when liberals decry the assault voting rights as violations of democracy. Other variations exist such as "we are a constitutional republic, not a democracy."
The definition of Republic is simply that a nation is governed by representatives. Rome was a republic, North Korea is Democratic People's Republic of Korea. China is People's Republic of China. All three are governed by representatives but nobody would mistake North Korea or China as democratic in the sense that the west or the USA considers democratic. Rome was governed by representatives, i.e. a Senate of the upper echelons of Roman society and certainly not democratic in our sense of the word.
Yes we have a constitution. Yes we are a republic which is governed by representatives using the Constitution as the governing framework. Exactly HOW our representatives are put into their positions IS the democratic method. But as we've seen over the last several years, the democratic method is considered legitimate only when conservatives win. And their assault on democratic methods exists to suppress the vote to ensure that win.
I always liked your hypotheses on the interplay between democracy and capitalism. What we need now is a big dose of GW’s “civic virtue.”
if you haven't read Professor Brands' book American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865–1900 I highly recommend it
Indeed I have.
I am in agreement that we are in decline politically, and it seems that economically we are headed that was as well.
quote: Some of the latter made a point of saying that America had been born a republic but not a democracy.
This is literally the most stupid of arguments that is made by people on the right when liberals decry the assault voting rights as violations of democracy. Other variations exist such as "we are a constitutional republic, not a democracy."
The definition of Republic is simply that a nation is governed by representatives. Rome was a republic, North Korea is Democratic People's Republic of Korea. China is People's Republic of China. All three are governed by representatives but nobody would mistake North Korea or China as democratic in the sense that the west or the USA considers democratic. Rome was governed by representatives, i.e. a Senate of the upper echelons of Roman society and certainly not democratic in our sense of the word.
Yes we have a constitution. Yes we are a republic which is governed by representatives using the Constitution as the governing framework. Exactly HOW our representatives are put into their positions IS the democratic method. But as we've seen over the last several years, the democratic method is considered legitimate only when conservatives win. And their assault on democratic methods exists to suppress the vote to ensure that win.