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Originally Posted by rickg
According to the older definition of the term, the United States of America is a republic, not a democracy. (Although most people, including most Americans, call it a democracy, they are using the modern definition, not the older one referred to here). This usage of the term republic was particularly common around the time of the American Founding Fathers. In contrast to the "Confederation" under the Articles of Confederation, the authors of the U.S. Constitution intentionally chose what they called a republic for several reasons. For one, it is impractical to collect votes from every citizen on every political issue. In theory, representatives would be more well-informed and less emotional than the general populace. Furthermore, a republic can be contrived to protect against the "tyranny of the majority." The Federalist Papers outline the idea that pure democracy is actually quite dangerous, because it allows a majority to infringe upon the rights of a minority. By forming what they called a Republic, in which representatives are chosen in many different ways (the President, House of Representatives, Senate, and state officials are all elected differently), it is more difficult for a majority to control enough of the government to infringe upon a minority.
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That had a great deal to do with it, but the ultimate reason that given the state of technology and that it was a frontier nation, representative democracy was chosen more for logistical reasons than anything else. You simply could not continually return to Illinois to decide the questions of the day each time they came up. It is a system that served a nation of that day and age well, but I think the time has come to overhaul it. We need a House based upon proportional democracy instead of winner-take-all districts that leave millions without a voice in government and allow gerrymander to subvert democracy itself. We also need to get rid of the Electoral College before the damn thing starts a civil war. Given our advanced technological state, we should also allow more direct initiative and referendum at the federal level. Representative democracy has become a convenient vehicle for special interests to control this country by gaming the system. Look at our current election. Due to the winner-take-all electoral college, millions of us are not even considered part of this election - the state of Texas might as well just mail in its electoral votes. A few "swing states" will decide for the rest of us who will be president. Democracy is being lost, however you define it.