What's the difference between a Democracy and a Republic?

[Kimber Scott]

I got out of school a long time ago, and I don't remember if they even talked about this.

[Meldread]

1. Depends on who's running it. -nt-

[skylarmae]

2. democracy - one person one vote - republic - three branches of

government - judiciary, executive and congress - bring back any memories??

[Kimber Scott]

3. So are we a composite of the two, or what? Theoretically speaking,

of course. I know the one person, one vote thing doesn't REALLY apply.

[sangh0]

6. Yes, we're a combo deal

A representive and democratic republic

[ixion]

4. the difference

One is an order of government (monarchy, dynasty, republic), and the other is a type of that order (democratic, socialist, facist).



Republic:

A political order whose head of state is not a monarch and in modern times is usually a president.
A nation that has such a political order.

Democracy:

Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
A political or social unit that has such a government.
The common people, considered as the primary source of political power.
Majority rule.
The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community.


Until Chimpy took over, we had a democratic republic. Now we have a corporate theocracy. :-(

[MatrixEscape]

8. Yeah ...

But I am not sure what we have now. I think it was more of a Political Oligarchy prior to the Shrub's new term.

Now its either a Fascist Dynasty or a Fascist Monrachy. The Bush Dynasty is well in establikshed, but Shrubby is getting a very swollen, Monarch head. Nepoleon Caesar II.

[H2O Man]

10. Pretty close ....

with but a couple minor issues that the Webster's Dictionary definition didn't include .... when you wrote "type of that order," your examples are not consistent. You used "democratic, socialist, and facist(sic)." A democracy is the means of selecting the executive in a republic. Socialism is an economic system which can be used in a democracy or most any other government in an industrial or post-industrial economy. And fascism is when industry controls the politics (as opposed to the politicians controlling the industry, which is communism), and implies a militaristic and nationalist culture.

[sandnsea]

5. Minority Rights

Where the rights of the majority DO NOT trump the rights of the minority to live freely and be represented in their government. That is why we have the electoral college, so the voice of the entire country is heard. Frankly, some folks haven't been listening so well in the last 20 years. Keeping in mind that I certainly know there's been a hell of alot of bullshit manipulation of the masses going on as well.

[Lenape85]

7. You hit the nail on the head

[Kimber Scott]

12. Yes. Yes! It's all coming back to me now. I knew there was a reason

we had the greatest form of government in the world. Now, it seems, we are turning into a fascist state where the minority is doomed to second-class citizenry.

[dirtyduck]

9. We need to progress from the "minority" to the "opposition" eom

[doni_georgia]

11. A republic is a type of government where the people elect representatives

to govern for them. A true democracy is where the people vote on everything themselves. A representative democracy and a republic is the same thing.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. Sorry, doni, listen to ixion, who gave you the correct definition

You have defined a "direct democracy" (the bowling club votes on where to go for beer) versus a representative democracy (individuals vote for representatives).

A republic is basically a country without a monarch. That's why France and Germany and China and North Korea and Brazil and India and Libya and the U.S. are republics, while Great Britain, the Netherlands, Japan, Norway, and Nepal are NOT republics, even though the first four are representative democracies.