What is the difference between a representative democracy and a republic?
I see posts often that state that we (USA) were not created to be a democracy (I think they mean Representative Democracy when this is said.)
I do not think people often have thought through what the difference really is, and how did our country change from a republic to a representative democracy, or have we made that change?
What are your thoughts about which we are, and what would be needed to be one or the other? Should we be one or the other or should we be a hybrid of the two?
Definitions:
May help in the discussion
Democracy: government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
Republic: a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.
I do not think people often have thought through what the difference really is, and how did our country change from a republic to a representative democracy, or have we made that change?
What are your thoughts about which we are, and what would be needed to be one or the other? Should we be one or the other or should we be a hybrid of the two?
Definitions:
May help in the discussion
Democracy: government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
Republic: a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.
