Is the US a democracy?

Your the one refusing to read and learn the difference between the two words.

Presumably you mean "republic" and "democracy."

I don't believe you understand the difference between the two words. You seem to think the difference is something it isn't. "Republic" refers to a mechanical governing arrangement in which representatives of a constituency make governing decisions by proxy. "Democracy" refers to a governing philosophy in which the people are sovereign and make decisions by majority vote -- either directly OR by proxy.

There is no reason why a republic cannot also be a democracy. If you draw a conflict between the two, you are making a mistake.
 
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7270. REPRESENTATION, Democratic. --


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7270. REPRESENTATION, Democratic. --
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The full experiment of a government democratical, but representative, was and is still reserved for us. The idea (taken, indeed, from the little specimen formerly existing in the English constitution, but now lost) has been carried by us, more or less, into all our legislative and executive departments; but it has not yet, by any of us, been pushed into all the ramifications of the system, so far as to leave no authority existing not responsible to the people; whose rights, however, to the exercise and fruits of their own industry, can never be protected against the selfishness of rulers not subject to their control at short periods. The introduction of this new principle of representative democracy has rendered useless almost everything written before on the structure of government; and, in a great measure, relieves our regret, if the political writings of Aristotle, or of any other ancient, have been lost, or are unfaithfully rendered or explained to us. --

TITLE: To Isaac H. Tiffany.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 32.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1816

This is a letter that Jefferson wrote.

It is fully documented and is an historical document.


He called us a Democracy.


Its undeniable what he thought about Democracy.


Why does the right repetedly lie and say we are not a democracy?

You have it wrong again TM. It is not that we are not a Democracy, it is that the term is too broad. We are a Federalist Republic, more specifically. Who should we blame for your lack of comprehension skills? The Teachers Unions? Progressivism. We are not ruled by the whims of the angry Horde TM. Sorry to disappoint you. We are Ruled by the Rule of Law, and Reason when permitted.

Indeed. Lynch mobs need not apply.
 
One of my favorite quotes from Jefferson: “Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms (of government) those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny”

We would be wise to remember this one.
 
Earliest known appearance in print: 2004[1][2] Democracy is nothing more than mob rule... « Thomas Jefferson

Other attributions: None known.

Status: We currently have no evidence to confirm that Thomas Jefferson ever said or wrote, "Democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51% of the people may take away the rights of the other 49%" or any of its listed variations. We do not know the source of this statement's attribution to Thomas Jefferson.

Footnotes

↑ Ken Schoolland, The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible: A Free Market Odyssey (Cape Town, South Africa: Leap Publishing, 2004), 235. PDF version available online.
↑ To establish the earliest appearance of this phrase in print, the following sources were searched for the phrase, "democracy is nothing more than mob rule": Google Books, Google Scholar, Amazon.com, Internet Archive, America's Historical Newspapers, American Broadsides and Ephemera Series I, Early American Imprints Series I and II, Early English Books Online, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, 19th Century U.S. Newspapers, American Periodicals Series Online, JSTOR.

Perhaps he didn't, perhaps he did. No evidence doesn't necessarily mean he didn't. I'll continue my research. :D

With that said, would you say Democracy is indeed Mob rule or not?? Is it right for 51% to control the other 49%??
 
Your the one refusing to read and learn the difference between the two words.

Presumably you mean "republic" and "democracy."

I don't believe you understand the difference between the two words. You seem to think the difference is something it isn't. "Republic" refers to a mechanical governing arrangement in which representatives of a constituency make governing decisions by proxy. "Democracy" refers to a governing philosophy in which the people are sovereign and make decisions by majority vote -- either directly OR by proxy.

There is no reason why a republic cannot also be a democracy. If you draw a conflict between the two, you are making a mistake.
Keep deluding youself.

Try Rule of LAW, not of Men.
 
Someone posted a fake commentary by Jefferson. Until we can figure out if he said it, then I am not worried about a fake. As far as complaining about losing a vote closely, that is not 'mob democracy', that is crying about getting your ass whipped. Slink off.
 
what two words peach?

Is the word "Republic" in your vocabulary? Can you tell us what a Republic is? and which word "democracy or republic" resides in our pledge of allegiance?


take your time. It's been years but take all the time you need.
 
For those that asked:

"Great innovations should not be forced on a slender majority."
-Thomas Jefferson to John Armstrong, 1808. ME 12:42

"Bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate would be oppression." --Thomas Jefferson: 1st Inaugural, 1801. ME 3:318
 
what two words peach?

Is the word "Republic" in your vocabulary? Can you tell us what a Republic is? and which word "democracy or republic" resides in our pledge of allegiance?


take your time. It's been years but take all the time you need.
I'll bet if you inserted the word Bananna in front of it I'll bet she would.
 
Someone posted a fake commentary by Jefferson. Until we can figure out if he said it, then I am not worried about a fake. As far as complaining about losing a vote closely, that is not 'mob democracy', that is crying about getting your ass whipped. Slink off.

Good thing Mob Rule doesn't work, especially for everyone other than white males. :tongue:
 
what two words peach?

Is the word "Republic" in your vocabulary? Can you tell us what a Republic is? and which word "democracy or republic" resides in our pledge of allegiance?


take your time. It's been years but take all the time you need.
I'll bet if you inserted the word Bananna in front of it I'll bet she would.

She really doesn't want to know. She just wants to stir her cauldron of shit.
 
One of my favorite quotes from Jefferson: “Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms (of government) those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny”

We would be wise to remember this one.
Since it is before our very eyes now.

I agree, and it has been for decades. I do wish the country would wake up to that.
 
One of my favorite quotes from Jefferson: “Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms (of government) those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny”

We would be wise to remember this one.
Since it is before our very eyes now.

I agree, and it has been for decades. I do wish the country would wake up to that.
And the process began in ernst from Wilson...on. The First threat was Maubury v. Madison...but for a different thread. ;)
 
tell us why you believe it is or is not.

Tell up why it matters what we call it.
Can YOU tell us what it is? Please include proper spelling punctuation and sentence structure and PLEASE, just once, include an apostrophe.
To those who cannot type efficiently, this instruction is more difficult than it appears.

TDM's problem is more thinking efficiently than typing efficiently. I'm a crappy typist myself, but I do attempt to render my words coherently with as few spelling and punctuation errors as possible.
 
Search the Jeffersonian Cyclopedia



Thomas Jefferson Collection | Jeffersonian Encyclopedia homepage
University of Virginia Library

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


7270. REPRESENTATION, Democratic. --


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7270. REPRESENTATION, Democratic. --
View page | View section
The full experiment of a government democratical, but representative, was and is still reserved for us. The idea (taken, indeed, from the little specimen formerly existing in the English constitution, but now lost) has been carried by us, more or less, into all our legislative and executive departments; but it has not yet, by any of us, been pushed into all the ramifications of the system, so far as to leave no authority existing not responsible to the people; whose rights, however, to the exercise and fruits of their own industry, can never be protected against the selfishness of rulers not subject to their control at short periods. The introduction of this new principle of representative democracy has rendered useless almost everything written before on the structure of government; and, in a great measure, relieves our regret, if the political writings of Aristotle, or of any other ancient, have been lost, or are unfaithfully rendered or explained to us. --

TITLE: To Isaac H. Tiffany.
EDITION: Washington ed. vii, 32.
PLACE: Monticello
DATE: 1816



READ THE FULL LETTER TM

Sir,-In answer to your inquiry as to the merits of Gillies' translation of the Politics of Aristotle, I can only say that it has the reputation of being preferable to ellis', the only rival translation into English. I have never seen it myself, and therefore do not speak of it from my own knowledge. But so different was the style of society then, and with those people, from what it is now and with us, that I think little edification can be obtained from their writings on the subject of government. They had just ideas of the value of personal liberty, but none at all of the structure of government best calculated to preserve it. They knew no medium between a democracy (the only pure republic, but impracticable beyond the limits of a town) and an abandonment of themselves to an aristocracy, or a tyranny independent of the people. It seems not to have occurred that where the citizens cannot meet to transact their business in person, they alone have the right to choose the agents who shall transact it; and that in this way a republican, or popular government, of the second grade of purity, may be exercised over any extent of country. The full experiment of a government democratical, but representative, was and is still reserved for us. The idea (taken, indeed, from the little specimen formerly existing in the English constitution, but now lost) has been carried by us, more or less, into all our legislative and executive departments; but it has not yet, by any of us, been pushed into all the ramifications of the system, so far as to leave no authority existing not responsible to the people; whose rights, however, to the exercise of fruits of their own industry, can never be protected against the selfishness of rulers not subject to their control at short periods. The introduction of this new principle of representative democracy has rendered useless almost everything written before on the structure of government; and, in a great measure, relieves our regret, if the political writings of Aristotle, or of any other ancient, have been lost, or are unfaithfully rendered or explained to us. My most earnest wish is to see the republican element of popular control pushed to the maximum of its practicable exercise. I shall then believe that our government may be pure and perpetual. Accept my respectful salutations.
 

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