What Does This Mean to YOU: Democracy Vs. Republic

This isn't really a versus issue. Democracy refers to the WAY in which decisions are made. Republic refers to the way in which people are represented.

Decisions are made by majority vote. That's Democracy.

Votes are cast by representatives of geographic groups. That's a republic.

The two are not mutually exclusive, nor are they mutually inclusive. A Republic can be democratic or not and Democracy can exist in or out of a Republic.

A democracy is majority rule...it can be seen as destructive of liberty because there is no law to prevent the majority from trampling on individual rights. Whatever the majority says goes!

A lynch mob is an example of pure democracy in action. There is only O. dissenting vote and that is cast by the person at the end of the rope.

To quote Professor Alexander Fraser Tytler, " A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of Government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largess out of public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that Democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by a Dictatorship."

Republic: Authority that is driven through the election by the people of public officials best fitted to represent them. (i.e. the government is our employee).

Attitude toward law is the administration of justice in accord with fixed principles and established evidence, with a strict regard to consequences.

Where there are branches of government - Legislative, Judicial and Executive - that have or are supposed to have checks and balances so that O. doesn't over-rule the other...where there is a "Chief" (i.e. President) who is supposed to uphold the laws and "lead" the nation...

So to sum it up? We are SUPPOSED to have, in the United States of America - a Republic...however, over the years it has become a twisted form of a Democratic Republic - where the party "in power" does their will...hopefully those that elect them into office will be smart enough not to put them back into office when they fail to accurately REPRESENT their constituents.

Well, we're not a democracy, per se. We're a republic. Technically a democratic republic. Which is a FORM of democracy, but not true democracy.

In a democracy : voting happens

In a republic: representatives of certain areas vote

In a democratic republic: "the people" elect those representatives to vote

In a democracy: "the people" vote
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A republic can be democratic... but it doesn't have to be. Representatives can be assigned by the ruling council, by hereditary, purchased, worked for... there are MANY different ways that the ruling body of "voters" can be made up. There also may or may not be a ruling head or figure head (elected president/prime minister... or hereditary monarch/emperor), and various degrees of power are assigned to that ruling or figure head. In some forms of republic the "top" person has final say, should they choose to/be able to exercise it... in some forms they voting body has final say. As always, politics enters in *mightily* regardless of what the "rules" are.

Athens had true democracy. ANY citizen could come to the meetings, and all citizens who came to those meetings could vote. ((Imagine if every citizen in the US who wanted to could come to the senate floor and cast their vote)). There was an elected council who met nearly every day of the year, and then a period several months long where the "floor" was open to everyone. And everyone's vote had equal merit.

Rome had a republic (during certain times in the empire). We have a republic. UK has a republic. Iran has a republic. Many religions have a republic. It's a less cumbersome form of government than true democracy, and has more failsafes than either autocracy or democracy.
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What does it (our particular flavor of democratic republic) mean to ME? Slightly more say than none.

I hate when people play with words, ya know? I know what our government is or isn't.

Anyway, England is a state, Italy is a state, Europe is made of of states but does not have central goverment on all levels. We are the only Republic because we are made up of 50 states with a central goverment, common laws, currency......

I always feel like people throw out we are a republic not a democracy just like I might throw out I told you so. :(

Republic means a represenative form of government - we elect officials and cede decision making power to them vs Democracy is direct decision making by the whole body.

What it means to me? That I get to choose lawmakers, but not laws. I get to send people to Washington that are supposed to represent me and make decisions the way I would if I were there. We pledge allegiance to O. Republic, but it makes us feel good to say we live in a Democracy. We don't.

Technically we're a republic.

In practice we're an oligarchy.
Oligarchy:
a form of government in which all power is vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government by the few.

According to Wikipedia:
The modern United States is an oligarchy by most definitions, with the top 10% holding 75% of private wealth and the top 1% holding 35% of private wealth. The richest 500 Americans hold more wealth than the bottom 150,000,000 Americans combined.

WELL DENISE----

Thank you SO very much for the ongoing debate here at my dinner table...(well...BBQ ing as we lead to dinner anyway!! )

I have my 18 yo ...my 16 yo...my 14 yo...(and her sis...who is laughing)...as well as my 21 yo and her BF...

We are about to make some phone calls to other sibs...lol

This 'discussion' has evolved...I am horrified that some 'here' did not know the difference...

And now has 'morphed into up coming elections...candidates...etc...

**VERY HEALTHY DEBATE***

But mostly...I want to serve my steak...potato salad and cole slaw...and mushrooms and onions!!

Great question!!
Michele/cat

There was a good post on Yahoo Answers regarding the difference. Here is an excerpt:

Republic and democracy are descriptions of two different things (O. is a form of goverment, the other is the system of goverment). So, for example you have the former Soviet Union, which was a republic, but not a democracy. You also have India, which is a democracy but not a republic. The US is both. N. Korea is neither.

The president is elected through the electoral college system instead of by direct vote so he can be a split between the senate and the house (the states and the population). The electoral college's purpose is O. of the most misunderstood in political science.

Republicans have little to do with republic, and the democrats have little to do with democracy. Both parties support a democratic republic.......

I won't go into much depth here with my answer, but I do notice that there's a "vs." inbetween the two. What that says to me is that they're in conflict, not agreeing, not compromising, not making a middle-of-the-road decision. When I was little, from whatever I heard my parents say, I always thought that O. meant "the bad guys" and O. meant "the good guys." Funny how kids pick up on things, eh?

(I guess my answer is more of an answer between "Democrat vs Republican". Sorry. I guess I didn't really answer your question. But oh well)

A democracy is where representatives are elected, by the population. It is a system of government.
A Republic is the entity, which is held in power, by those who were elected.... President, not a Monarch or hereditary line of power.

We are a Republic, in which our system of government is a Democracy.

Democracy = every individual is their own representative

Republic = individuals elect a representative as a group to represent them

I am probably not stating this as clearly as I'd like, but the US is a republic.

ETA:
From Merriam-Webster online

Democracy: 1 a : government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections

Republic: 1 a (1) : a government having a chief of state who is not a monarch and who in modern times is usually a president (2) : a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government b (1) : a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law