Democracy or Republic

[Naraku]

The Founders were a bunch of rich white guys that felt women, black men, and the poor were too stupid to understand good governance?

Kregener

Everything you put up is wrong.

 

[virgil47]

Kregner if you were responding to me you are incorrect. All that I posted is true and can be easily verified. So can anyone answer my question?

 

[ConstitutionGal]

We originally had a representational republic. Not all of the citizenry were intended to be able to vote, hence the requirements set forth to vote. Some of these requirements were a person had to own property, had to be able to pay a poll tax, had to be 21 years of age and had to be able to pass a test on the constitution. These requirements were done away with by the liberals in our society because they "disenfranchsed the less fortunate". Can anyone state the reasons for these requirements? I'll give you a smiley if you can!

Because the Founders realized that the land-owners had the highest stake in the workings of our government (vested interest) as they were basically the only ones actually paying the taxes to support same (there was no tax on income at the time)??

 

[TexFootballMom]

America is a Democratic Republic.

 

[jstmike]

For those that would like a video of the different forms of government.

Overview of America:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6732659166933078950

 

[virgil47]

ConstitutionGal, you are correct on number one! How about the others?

 

[angelatc]

Democracy does also mean majority rule.

I have to disagree. Direct Democracy is majority rule. Democracy is rule by the people.

 

[ConstitutionGal]

ConstitutionGal, you are correct on number one! How about the others?

Sorry 'bout that....seeing as how the Founders believed that a Republican government could only be held in check by a informed populace, I'd have to say that was the reasoning behind the 'test'. They wanted those voting to have a basic understanding of what was actually within the scope of the federal government. On the poll tax, I must, alas, admit that I'm not certain and will, therefore, keep my big mouth shut.

 

[Naraku]

I have to disagree. Direct Democracy is majority rule. Democracy is rule by the people.

I don't even think direct democracy can be called majority rule. It would only mean the people rule directly.

 

[virgil47]

ConstitutionGal you are correct about the informed populace. The founders wanted the people to understand the constitution to insure that they did not lose thier rights. The poll tax while minimal in nature was to insure that the folks voting were not on the dole(welfare) or nonworkers. The age restriction (21) was to insure that voters had spent some time in the real world on thier own. They needed to have been independent of family and school long enough to have worked for a living and experienced life on thier own.

 

[Hardrock]

The Founders were a bunch of rich white guys that felt women, black men, and the poor were too stupid to understand good governance?

Kregener

Everything you put up is wrong.

Ah,.... yeah,....... and what's yer point? Look around and tell me how the
"Democracy" thing is workin' out for us.
What we have now is nothing more than a system snatched from the
discount bargain bin at "Clusterfux-R-us."


Every catagory you mention has a HUGE "mob rule" entitlement
mentality, and a HUGE organized voter base that is so, so easy to control.
I bet if you ask them they'll tell you "Democracy" is wondeful!

Ask the evil entities that control these "mobs", and they will tell you that
Democracy is FANTASTIC!

Order out of Chaos

Democracy is the tool best used to destroy a Republic.



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[Naraku]

Look around and tell me how the "Democracy" thing is workin' out for us.

Do you think people have any real say in what's going on? Are the people manipulating the votes? Are the people cutting Ron Paul out of the media? Are the people smearing Paul to millions of others?

If none of these questions can be answered with a "yes" than our problems aren't a result of democracy.

Every catagory you mention has a HUGE "mob rule" entitlement
mentality, and a HUGE organized voter base that is so, so easy to control.

Even rich white guys are pretty easy to control or have you forgotten? Rule by the people in its purest form would not be by majority, but by unanimity. This is unlikely to work in a real world conditions so there has to be some room to leave out minority opinions. Where it is unworkable to have a majority determine factors, but unanimity is most likely impossible there has to be a way of satisfying this conflict, hence the law comes into play.

In fact, you can find some element of this respect for majority and minority in how the Constitution lays out the choice of President and Vice President. The President has the most votes, while the VP has the second-most, so the second-largest opinion still has some validity.

This division insures that the majority or largest opinion as well as the minority or smaller opinion play a part in forming the government.