vendredi 17 octobre 2014

Why It Is Important To Understand The Constitutional Republic VS Democracy Debate

By Patty Goff


Many countries have democracies and they are in terrible shape. The United States formed a republican form of government, in 1787, with the writing and acceptance of the US Constitution. This great experiment, as many called it, was the first time such a government came into existence and it is to be guarded jealously. Noting some of the differences to the constitutional republic VS democracy debate will be helpful.

A republican form of government starts with a constitution. In this are the guarantees of the peoples rights by listing those things that the government can not do. In the US Constitutions case, there are also additional rights reserved to the people. All of these should be protected by the separation of powers, establishing legislative, executive and judicial branches that are in contention with each other.

In a democracy, the vote of the people carries the day. This vote is for the elected leaders to serve as the masterminds of the country. There is no separation of powers and all power is gathered in this overtly isolated court of central planners. By not having certain enumerated powers, this group will take all powers unto themselves and there is no appeal to it.

A republican form of government will require active, knowledgeable voters to select the various house and senate members in the legislative branch. They will also select the president to serve as the executive. These individuals should follow the desires of their constituents, based on information and knowledge, to enact laws to serve the entire country. This often means compromise and, unfortunately, deals between two or more members.

One of the things about democracy is that it has often been called mob rule. When the vote occurs, the majority wins and the minority loses. There are no minority rights as all members of the society must adhere to the new majority decision. This is akin to a group of 20 lions and 15 zebras having a vote on what to have for dinner.

One of the things that make the republican form of government so appealing is that the US Constitution had to be approved by the people before it could represent the peoples rights. They had to approve it in 1787 to 1789 and they also have the ability to make changes to it even now. This is accomplished with the amendment process. This is possible and necessary because their representatives need guidance, from time to time, and the people do not vote on all issues coming before these legislators.

Republican forms of government are to follow the guidelines outlined in the Constitution. This guideline indicates what is to be done in areas that are not specifically mentioned in the document. A democracy, on the other hand, has no controlling piece of paper that proscribes certain things. They attempt to distant themselves from anything that happened before and they do not need to follow the lessons learned in previous history.

A very bad thing about the United States, in 2014, is that it is beginning to not look like the republican form of government that was set out in 1787. The founders formed a federal, not a national government and it is becoming more and more national and even less democratic. This is making it harder and harder for the representatives to truly represent the voters desires.




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