US No longer a Democracy

[Derangel]

Never thought of the United States as a Democracy. From seeing how voting works with the electoral college. 

 

Because it never was. In fact the Founding Father's were highly critical of democracy. The US is (or at least was) a Federal Republic.

[Lewellyn]

Because it never was. In fact the Founding Father's were highly critical of democracy. The US is (or at least was) a Federal Republic.

 

Well given that the entire American Revolution was only supported by 1/3 of the colonies and was backed by the rich in the colonies that would benefit from breaking from England's rule.

[PhantomJaguarr]

The US is (or at least was) a Federal Republic.

Yep already knew that. Thread title is misleading..

[.spider.]

The US was never a democracy. 

 

It's a Constitutional Republic.

A constitutional republic can be democratic if you have the right to vote (and the vote is taking an actual effect)

[Trik'Stari]

America has never been a democracy, we have been a "representative republic". And since when is this news? I've known this since I was about 14.

[ObscureMammal]

Get money out of politics!

https://mayday.us/

http://www.wolf-pac.com/

 

The two main problems are Citizens United v. FEC & McCutcheon v. FEC.

This pretty much legalized bribery, said corporations are people and money=speech.

 

[Jerakl]

Yep already knew that. Thread title is misleading..

I had no idea it was a republic or w/e.

 

I can change it I guess.

[Lewellyn]

 

 

I generally dislike The Young Turks and others like them for their general smugness yet this was spot on.

[ObscureMammal]

I generally dislike The Young Turks and others like them for their general smugness yet this was spot on.

I don't agree with everything they say, but they are generally right on most issues. They don't have the same bias as most media because they don't have to worry about access to political figures.

[RelentlessAF]

Yeah in school we are taught the U.S. is a republic. Its pretty obvious it isn't a democracy. Unless you don't know what a democracy is.

[Art Vandelay]

Great an article with a sensationalist title linking to an article that I can't read because it's in some university archive that you need to pay to get into. very insightful.

[Entropy]

This has been posted here before. Months ago.

[bob345]

sure "democracy"

[Guest]

What's the big deal? There's no such thing as a democracy.

 

 

Democracy doesn't really exist, it's a nice idea but it's not really possible with more than like 5 people.

 

 

I mean, I dont believe there is any country that is a real democracy. Money Talks, all politics are run by corrupt officials.

 

 

Switzerland is a pretty much a true democracy. They're not in the EU and didn't join the UN until 2002 (I believe it was 2002 at least). They only thing within Switzerland that is not a pure democracy is (to my understanding, I'm not Swiss) is changing of things in their constitution, which is still voted on by the people, but then voted on again by parliament. But everything else, including governments within their towns and cantons and many other things on a federal level is a true democracy. It also should be noted that Switzerland hasn't been to war in 500 years, they have the most stable economy on Earth, and scored number 3 in the world happiness report in 2013 only behind Denmark and Norway. Democracy sure seems to be working well for them... I agree the US isn't much of a democracy as much as it is a republic with many democratic elements incorporated, especially in local government. Just some food for thought.

 

edited for clarity. Also, I didn't actually do any research on this, this is all just preconceived knowledge. Please correct me if anything in this is wrong.

[Jack.EXE]

We are a unified confederacy of states, each with thier own laws, and each having to follow a set of laws the majority of the states agree on.

[TopWargamer]

The United States was never a democracy to begin with. We are a constitutional republic. 

 

(From Wikipedia)

Republic - a form of government in which power resides in the people, and the government is ruled by elected leaders run according to law, rather than inherited or appointed (such as through inheritance or divine mandate).

Democracy - a form of government in which all eligible citizens are meant to participate equally – either directly or, through elected representatives, indirectly – in the proposal, development and establishment of the laws by which their society is run.

 

They're similar, and I can see where the confusion comes from. 

 

Anyways, this article is rubbish. The United States is by no means an oligarchy. Corporations do not run our country. They can, however, influence politicians into making certain decisions, but they do not run the country. If you want this fixed, vote in better politicians. Do your research. 

 

I just want to point out that if this was done through Princeton, then why on earth isn't the study on Princeton's website? Also, please notice that the uploader of the study is tpmdocs, which is clearly owned by TPM Media, who just so happens to own the website that the article was hosted on. I dunno, sounds fishy to me. 

 

No hate on the OP or anything, but next time, pretty please use a more reliable source. 

 

EDIT: Plus the article is sensational click bait. it's nothing more than that. 

[kayodoc]

You can call it what you want, but its been the same for the past century.

Money > all

The people never really had a voice.

[RexinOridle]

Guys, stop making jokes before April. US is "Democracy".

[.spider.]

They're similar, and I can see where the confusion comes from. 

I don't get it

For me Democracy is the generic term and Republic is a closer specification how its done.

Look at the definitions the Republic is fulfilling all points of the democracy's definition.

[StingBull]

Republics can be democratic guys, they are not mutually exclusive.

Back to the topic.

There is very little proof that democracy can work. Even who are credited as the founders of democracy said you know what this is dumb and changed. Because not only it is hard to make democracy work it is harder to maintain it. Especially if your country is large and there are way too many groups of people in it with different ideas.

Democracy is about many different people agreeing with each other. If you have lived in this earth for a couple of years you know that there is no way that shit will happen.

Besides no one believes US has democracy. We are all saying it ironically when we talk about US democracy.

[Cookie Monster]

America is a democracy in everyday vernacular.

 

In more technical terms it is a representative democracy.

[ComradeHX]

It never was...

[Guest]

The US was never a democracy. 

 

It's a Constitutional Republic. 

It's a Constitutionally Limited Representative Democratic Republic

[Swndlr]

regardless of what it is, the country is still being ran by bozos to say the least...

[Opsilon]

The US was never a democracy. 

 

It's a Constitutional Republic. 

 

 

What's the big deal? There's no such thing as a democracy.

 

 

We don't push Democracy, we push constitutional monarchy or a republic. 

 

 

Thats the definition of politics, not just US politics. 

 

Most Americans don't know either

 

 

Democracy doesn't really exist, it's a nice idea but it's not really possible with more than like 5 people.

 

 

Direct Democracies are stupid in the first place. 

 

 

I mean, I dont believe there is any country that is a real democracy. Money Talks, all politics are run by corrupt officials.

 

 

The United States was never a democracy to begin with. We are a constitutional republic. 

 

(From Wikipedia)

Republic - a form of government in which power resides in the people, and the government is ruled by elected leaders run according to law, rather than inherited or appointed (such as through inheritance or divine mandate).

Democracy - a form of government in which all eligible citizens are meant to participate equally – either directly or, through elected representatives, indirectly – in the proposal, development and establishment of the laws by which their society is run.

 

They're similar, and I can see where the confusion comes from. 

 

Anyways, this article is rubbish. The United States is by no means an oligarchy. Corporations do not run our country. They can, however, influence politicians into making certain decisions, but they do not run the country. If you want this fixed, vote in better politicians. Do your research. 

 

I just want to point out that if this was done through Princeton, then why on earth isn't the study on Princeton's website? Also, please notice that the uploader of the study is tpmdocs, which is clearly owned by TPM Media, who just so happens to own the website that the article was hosted on. I dunno, sounds fishy to me. 

 

No hate on the OP or anything, but next time, pretty please use a more reliable source. 

 

EDIT: Plus the article is sensational click bait. it's nothing more than that. 

 

OK guys, enough is enough, the bullshit you just wrote is beyond reasoning, but it's ok, your resident lawyer ( student ) is here to set you straight !

 

1. Every country on the world can be categorized multiple ways.

 

2. As a type of governance every country can be: a Monarchy or a Republic, and that is by looking at the head of the state, so to conclude the US is as Republic since the country leader is not a king, emperor, sultan, etc...

 

3. The other way you can look at it is: Unitary country and a Composed country, US is a composed country since it is a federal union of 50 states.

 

4. And finally we come to the Political regime, and here we have : Democracies and Autocracies ( Oligarchy is a sub-category ) . US is a Democracy, and here is why: The head of your country is chosen by the people by votes, using indirect democracy.

 

This is the simple version of a huge topic, that is not really made to be discussed on a tech forum, Every country today can be a part of multiple categories, but every country has a primary group it fits in.

The reason the US is not a real oligarchy is because every adult citizen is allowed to vote, and you can vote for every adult that runs for a position of president.

 

This is fact, and it has nothing to do with political views, it is that simple, what you are mixing is a countries classification with the politics that people in charge are using.

 

The US is a Democracy bit it has other attributes, and the rule of a few powerful is also one of them.

 

Edit: ignore the last section i mistranslated this, was thinking about direct and indirect elections, modern "Western" countries do not use Direct Democracy, it is impossible because there are too may citizens in modern countries, and running a country would be very slow, beside other problems. 

>>Oh and before you start calling a system stupid @connorpiper,

do a bit of research, because not a lot of countries have Indirect Democracies and they work just fine without it<<