I think it is a question that needs to be asked. I think there are a number of signs that we may not. Domestically and abroad we seem to have forgotten exactly what it means to be a democracy. Democracies are not secretive or imperialistic. They are open and, well, nonimperialistic(?).
I look at the Executive branch’s
silence and
secrecy. Democracies cannot be run in secret. In order to have an
informed electorate, you have to
inform them. Of course anyone who has been paying attention knows that the government has no aspirations of informing us (or allowing the press to). They want us uniformed and ignorant of the actions they take. That way when election time comes around we have no choice but to accept what they say they’ve done. The War on Terror isn’t democratic at all. (Which is ironic considering “they hate us because of our freedom”.) Secret prisons, suspension of the Geneva Conventions, people being held without habeas corpus and without access to a lawyer (or anyone else for that matter), and the deceitful manipulations that led up to the Iraq War are not the actions of a democratic government. Our government is like a child that doesn’t care about doing what is right, only about getting away with as much as possible without getting in trouble.
And abroad there is growing sentiment that maybe Democracy just won’t work in the Middle East. Where is the worst violence in the Middle East right now? Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine: the democratic arab countries. I don’t think that you can force a country to accept Democracy as we are trying to over there. Democracies can only come about by the will of the people. (Isn’t it ironic to try to force another country to become democratic? Dontcha think? The very idea of forcing a country to become democratic is undemocratic.) All of these countries lack strong moderate leaders that are committed to peaceful democracy. Where are the Jeffersons and Washingtons and Franklins of the Middle East? Maybe one day they will appear, but I don’t think we have seen them yet.
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James Allen posted this entry on Tuesday, August 1st, 2006 at 8:30 pm.
Posted in the category History, Politics
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Well, America was never meant to be a democracy. Democracy is majority rule. America is a constitutional republic. We elect others to voice our opinions for us. The word “democracy” does not appear at all in the US Constitution. We are not a democracy.
Constitutional republic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A constitutional republic is a state where the head of state and other officials are elected as representatives of the people and must govern according to existing constitutional law that limits the government’s power over citizens.
The fact that a constitution exists that limits the government’s power, makes the state constitutional. That the head(s) of state and other officials are chosen by election, rather than inheriting their positions, and that their decisions are subject to judicial review makes a state republican. Unlike a pure democracy, in a constitutional republic, citizens are not governed by the majority of the people but by the rule of law; popular vote is limited to electing representatives who govern within limits of overarching constitutional law rather than the popular vote having legislative power itself.
A constitutional republic is a form of liberal democracy, but not all liberal democracies are constitutional republics. For example, a constitutional monarchy may also be liberal democracy provided there is a parliament with elected representatives that govern according to constitutional law protecting individual rights (called a constitutional democratic monarchy).
Constitutional Republics are a deliberate attempt to diminish the threat of mobocracy thereby protecting minority groups from the tyranny of the majority.
The notion of constitiutional republic origniates with Aristotle’s Politics and his notion of the polity. He Contrasts the polity or repulican government with democracy and oligarchy in book 3, chapter 6 of the Politics.
Constitutional republics are advocated by classical liberals. The United States of America is the oldest constitutional republic in the world and the first comprehensive experiment in this conceived form of government.
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a Democracy. No a Republic. No it’s a Representative Democracy!
Representative Democracy
(Also)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Representative democracy is a form of democracy founded on the exercise of popular sovereignty by the people’s elected representatives. It is a theory of civics in which voters choose (in free, secret, multi-party elections) representatives to act in their interests, but not as their proxies—i.e., not necessarily according to their voters’ wishes, but with enough authority to exercise initiative in the face of changing circumstances.
As a representative democracy involves significant powers given to the legislators, there are usually constitutional or other measures to balance representative power:
* An independent judiciary, which may have the power to declare legislative acts unconstitutional.
* A representative democracy may provide for recall of elected representatives that voters become dissatisfied with.
* It may also provide for some deliberative democracy (e.g., Royal Commissions) or
* direct democracy (e.g., referendum) measures. However, these are not always binding and usually require some legislative action - legal power usually remains firmly with representatives.
* In some cases, a bicameral legislature may have an “upper house” that is not directly elected, such as the Canadian Senate, which was in turn modelled on the UK House of Lords.
While existing representative democracies hold elections to choose the representatives, in theory other methods, such as sortition, could be used.
Critique
One critique of representative democracy is that it centralizes power into the hands of the wealthy, thereby increasing the likelihood of policies which benefit the wealthy and not the poor. This can be called corruption in and abuse of power by the government. In the United States, the chief means to reduce this risk is the form of government called a constitutional democracy (or more accurately, a republic with constitutionally ordained democratic institutions), wherein a separation of powers is used to constitutionally establish a system of checks and balances. Such checks and balances are a critical element of a Jeffersonian democracy. Other democracies among advanced industrial nations rely on the strength of political participation, particularly through multi-party systems, and do not generally try to institute constitutionally structured checks and balances.
Representative democracy is often contrasted to participative democracy.
Would you prefer it if I referred to our system of government as a “republic with constitutionally ordained democratic institutions“?
It is all just roses anyway. Whether you want to claim we are a republic or a democracy, we haven’t been acting very much like either.
[…] During my absence, James Allen, of The Allen Almanac, choose to link to a post of mine. I’m flattered. His is a post worth reading as well. […]
[…] Does reclassifying documents make any sense at all? Ignoring the fact that it is silly to suggest that the number of missiles the US had in the 60s is a state secret, these documents are already out in the public. Are they planning on tracking down every mention of these things and erasing them? Democracies cannot be run in secret. Here come visit me: In a 1971 appearance before the House Armed Services Committee, for instance, Defense Secretary Melvin R. Laird offered a chart showing, among other things, that the United States had 30 strategic bomber squadrons, 54 Titan intercontinental ballistic missiles and 1,000 Minuteman missiles. […]
Hello webmaster…Man i love reading your blog, interesting posts ! it was a great Tuesday