Our media and politicians tend
to portray the United States
of America
Well I must be confused
because nowhere is the word "democracy" mentioned in the Declaration
of Independence or the U.S. Constitution. How could that be? Come to think of it, no where are the words
capitalism or political party mentioned either.
Our government is supposed
to be a democracy!
What exactly is the
definition of a democracy?
The Cambridge
The belief in freedom and equality between people,
or a system of government based on this belief, in which power is held by
elected representatives or directly by the people themselves.
A country in which power is held by elected
representatives.
The Cambridge
A country that is governed by elected
representatives and an elected leader.
So in a pure democracy power
is held by the people directly, while a republic elects representatives to look
out for the public interest. Well let us
look at that in light of the current state of American participation in the
election of our representatives and leader.
Pythagorean Analysis of Voter reality
in America
Total USA
Total Population under 18
78,000,000
Total Population 18
and over 247,322,000
Total Eligible Voters
18+ 247,322,000
Total Registered Voters 142,200,000
Percent 57%
Total Voter Turnout
2012 121,757,000
Percent of Registered
Voters 85.6%
Percent of Eligible
Voters 49.2%
Total Obama Votes
2012 62,615,406
Percent of Registered
Voters 44%
Percent of Eligible
Voters 25.3%
Total Romney Voters
2012 59,100,000
Percent of Registered
Voters 41.5%
Percent of Eligible
Voters 23.9%
Total Eligible Voters
not Voting 125,565,000
Percent of Eligible
Voters 50.8%
Total Leaning
Independent 43%
Total Leaning
Democrat 30%
Total Leaning Republican 26%
Nothing can be more
dramatic than the realization that not only do we not have a democracy we do
not even have a functioning republic in this the citadel of world democracy. For perhaps the first time in our history, more
Americans refused to participate in the voting process by refusing to register
to vote, a consequence of freedom or common sense I suspect.
Our political system has
failed to support our constitutional requirements for a republic. Yet I do not hear a single candidate for
either party raise the issue of the disconnect between our political parties
and our constitutional rights.
Wake up America
Is the United States
The Pledge of Alliance United States of America
The United
States
The Framers of the Constitution were altogether fearful of pure democracy. Everything they read and studied taught them that pure democracies "have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths" (Federalist No. 10).
The Framers of the Constitution were altogether fearful of pure democracy. Everything they read and studied taught them that pure democracies "have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths" (Federalist No. 10).
By popular usage, however, the word
"democracy" come to mean a form of government in which the government
derives its power from the people and is accountable to them for the use of
that power. In this sense the United
States United States
(Initiatives originate with, or are initiated by, the people while referendums originate with, or are referred to the people by, a state's legislative body.) That the Constitution does not provide for national ballot initiatives or referendums is indicative of the Framers' opposition to such mechanisms. They were not confident that the people had the time, wisdom or level-headedness to make complex decisions, such as those that are often presented on ballots on election day.
(Initiatives originate with, or are initiated by, the people while referendums originate with, or are referred to the people by, a state's legislative body.) That the Constitution does not provide for national ballot initiatives or referendums is indicative of the Framers' opposition to such mechanisms. They were not confident that the people had the time, wisdom or level-headedness to make complex decisions, such as those that are often presented on ballots on election day.
Writing of the merits of a republican or
representative form of government, James Madison observed that one of the most
important differences between a democracy and a republic is "the
delegation of the government [in a republic] to a small number of citizens
elected by the rest."
The primary effect of such a scheme, Madison
. . . refine and enlarge the public views by
passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens whose wisdom may
best discern the true interest of their country and whose patriotism and love
of justice will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial
considerations. Under such a regulation it may well happen that the public
voice, pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more consonant
to the public good than if pronounced by the people themselves, convened for the
same purpose (Federalist No. 10).
Later, Madison
There are particular moments in public affairs when
the people, stimulated by some irregular passion, or some illicit advantage, or
misled by the artful misrepresentations of interested men, may call for
measures which they themselves will afterwards be most ready to lament and
condemn. In these critical moments, how salutary will be the interference of
some temperate and respectable body of citizens, in order to check the
misguided career and to suspend the blow meditated by the people against
themselves, until reason, justice and truth can regain their authority over the
public mind (Federalist No. 63).
In the strictest sense of the word, the system of
government established by the Constitution was never intended to be a
"democracy." This is evident not only in the wording of the Pledge of
Alliance but in the Constitution itself which declares that "The United
States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of
Government" (Article IV, Section 4). Moreover, the scheme of representation and the
various mechanisms for selecting representatives established by the
Constitution were clearly intended to produce a republic, not a democracy.
To the extent that the United States of America
Note Data Source for statistics:
U.S. Bureau of the Census. "Projected Population by Single Year of Age
(0-99, 100+), Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin for the United States
.
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