Q. What type of government do we have?
a. It's a Republic.
Q. Is our Republic one that allows representation of the citizens?
a. Yes. That is why it is called a Representative Republic - we have representatives who we place into office to place our votes for us on our behalf.
Q. What type of Representative Republic is it?
a. It is a Democratic Republic, because citizens participate by getting to vote. A Direct Democracy would be where the citizens vote on each and every piece of legislation and law that comes before the governement.
A system of government in which effective political power is vested in the people. In older usage (for example, in the writings of the classical Greek and Roman philosophers or in the Federalist Papers), the term was reserved exclusively for governmental systems in which the populace exercised this power directly through general assemblies or referenda to decide the most important questions of law or policy. In more contemporary usage, the term has been broadened to include also what the American Founding Fathers called a republic -- a governmental system in which the power of the people is normally exercised only indirectly, through freely elected representatives who are supposed to make government decisions according to the popular will, or at least according to the supposed values and interests of the population
Republic
Originally, any form of government not headed by an hereditary monarch. In modern American usage, the term usually refers more specifically to a form of government (a.k.a. "representative democracy" in which ultimate political power is theoretically vested in the people but in which popular control is exercised only intermittently and indirectly through the popular election of government officials and/or delegates to a legislative assembly rather than directly through frequent mass assemblies or legislation by referendum
So does this jive with what you are saying?
A Representative Democracy ?
krs will say I am arguing with myself, but what the hey LOL!
posted on May 18, 2001 10:25:11 PM
The electoral system alone does not allow this country to be a democratic republic. Some people refuse to believe that Clinton was impeached, and others refuse to believe that this country is a representative (because of the EEEEELLEECCTTOORRSSSS) republic.
But then, why let facts get in the way of a your opinions.
posted on May 18, 2001 10:47:51 PM
Okay---Clinton was Impeached---but the Impeachment was a failure (and to many a farce) and Clinton was not removed from office. Is that correct?? Little Grasshopper awaits your wisdom.
posted on May 18, 2001 10:59:26 PM
Farce is right. A great big republican boondoggle in which the silly people wasted almost enough money to buy themselves a neato nuclear attack submarine. And they keep talking about their precious tax dollars? With that money they could have had a great little third world war in some offbeat place and claimed a magnificent victory.
in which ultimate political power is theoretically vested in the people but in which popular control is exercised only intermittently and indirectly through the popular election of government officials and/or delegates to a legislative assembly rather than directly through frequent mass assemblies or legislation by referendum