Anonimous-X t1_iu42lsz wrote on October 28, 2022 at 12:17 PM

Reply to comment by IanDOsmond in What's the difference between a hippo, a zippo, and a stick of glue? by QWERTYspoons

In order for the US to be a democracy, every citizen would have one, equal vote for every bit of legislation, bill, or law proposed.
However, we elect others to represent us in these matters. Therefore, by simple definition, we are NOT a democracy. We ARE a Constitutional Republic. Your argument does not hold water.

IanDOsmond t1_iu44dox wrote on October 28, 2022 at 12:33 PM

No; that would make us a direct democracy,

Okay, the simplest web page I was able to find to explain this was from an Australian site. I feel like the Kahn Academy site is perhaps a bit loaded, in that it classifies "representative democracy" as an "elite democracy", which it technically is, but it makes it sound bad, and the Wikipedia page gets bogged down in the weeds with a lot of stuff that isn't relevant to what we are saying, but feel free to check those out, too - but here's a simple page to summarize:
https://www.moadoph.gov.au/democracy/defining-democracy/

Strutsfarm t1_iu85wgo wrote on October 29, 2022 at 8:42 AM

Your problem here is that you don’t seem to understand the meaning of words. Democracy and Republic are not antonyms. The antonym of Democracy is Dictatorship, democracy meaning that it is the people being in charge. (One) antonym of Republic is Monarchy, republic meaning that the power is by election and not by inheritance

Anonimous-X t1_iu879w0 wrote on October 29, 2022 at 9:02 AM

Republic: "A state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch."

Democracy: "A system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives."

Anonimous-X t1_iu86y3o wrote on October 29, 2022 at 8:57 AM

I'll simplify it more for you.. You and your 4 buddies want to go eat, 3, want McDonalds, one wants Taco Bell. So, you all go to McDonalds. 3 out of 4 votes.. a democratic vote, a democracy in action.

Conversely, everyone in the office is hungry, and want different things. THEN, the company CEO comes in he will pay for it if everyone in the company is fed, determines by the department heads..
SO, the 20 people in your office and 10 people in accounting want Subway. There's 30 votes.

The 5 people in shipping, 10 in maintenance and 5 in HR want Dairy Queen. That's 20 votes.

NOW, there are 30 for Subway, but only 2 votes. There are only 20 who want Dairy Queen, but 3 departments, or 3 votes.

So, the CEO buys Dairy Queen. POPULAR VOTE did NOT win as in a democracy, because it is NOT a democracy. It was a REPRESENTATIVE democratic vote in a company (Republic)

Strutsfarm t1_iu87giq wrote on October 29, 2022 at 9:05 AM

Understanding what words mean before arguing is helpful. Your example has nothing to do with Republic nor Democracy. Try agin.

Anonimous-X t1_iu87rj4 wrote on October 29, 2022 at 9:10 AM

My example is ACCURATE..

Republic: "A state in which supreme power is held by the people and THEIR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES (the department heads), and which has an elected or nominated president (the CEO) rather than a monarch."

Democracy: "A system of government by THE WHOLE POPULATION (you and your buddies) or ALL the eligible members of a state, "typically" through elected representatives."