How is the United States both a democracy and a republic?

Answer 1

Answer:

The United States is not both a democracy and a republic. The United States relies upon a constitutionally created republic to form their more perfect union. Section 4 of Article IV of the Constitution explicitly states: "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government..." Nowhere in the Constitution are the words Democracy or Democratic used. The Constitution is, in fact, decidedly un-democratic by nature. The Electoral process in electing the President is a prime example of how non democratic the Constitution is. It is, in the end, the Electoral Collage that elects the President and not the people. Another example, currently rendered moot by Seventeenth Amendment, that originally mandated that Senators be chosen by the House of Representatives. The Seventeenth Amendment changed that, (some would argue illegally or unconstitutionally.), so that the people may elect their own Senators. The Bill of Rights expressly forbids government officials from infringing on the rights of the individual and implicitly prohibits the majority from trampling over the rights of any individual. The Constitution of the United States of America is not a Democratic constitution and yet today the United States spends billions of tax dollars making the "world safe for Democracy".

If the United States, then, is not a Democracy then why do so many people believe it so? There is much literature, historical data and essays written on the Democratic America. Alexis Tocqueville's classic work Democracy in America published in two volumes, the first in 1835 the second in 1840 did much for tilling the soil and planting the seeds that would become a "Democratic America". Woodrow Wilson sold World War I to the American People by being the first to promise to "make the world safe for Democracy.", right around the same time Congress fought so hard to change the Constitution by Amendment, (a questionable act), and make the election of Senators "more democratic." It was, and still is argued, that by having the House select the Senate members this created a Senate that tended towards a more conservative process making the progress of legislation slow and laborious. This, of course, was the intent of the Framers of the Constitution. One of the major principles behind the Constitution is the idea that government must be chained like a beast at every turn. The process of legislation should be slow and laborious to avoid prolific legislation that will ultimately infringe upon the rights of the people.

There is a notion among democratic advocates that the foundation of freedom lies in a free and open election where every persons vote counts. This is just rhetoric, and the ability to participate in a free and open election means nothing if your fundamental and natural rights are at risk. The ability to express yourself freely does not come from a free and open election where every ones vote counts. The right to freely worship your religion of choice does not happen because of an electoral process, the right to love, marry and procreate does not come from a ballot proposal. The right to expect reasonable oath or affirmation of wrong doing before being arrested by government officials, the right to protect your property from unwarranted seizure, and the right to a speedy trial, the right to face your accuser and the right to avoid self incrimination are not freedoms gained through elections, they are rights. Fundamental and natural rights are the foundation of freedom. Free and open elections are an important process in maintaining a government that will continue to protect the rights of the individual, but it is the rights of the people that is what makes us free, not elected government officials.

There is a story, some say legend and others say historical fact, that upon leaving the Constitutional convention, a gentleman asked Benjamin Franklin; "Mr. Franklin, what have you wrought?" And Franklin responded dryly; "A Republic, sir, if you can keep it." How is the United States both a Democracy and a Republic? It is the way of politics to deceive in order to advance. Democracies are less cumbersome than Republics like America's. Too many restrictions prohibiting government from acting in the way governments will. Another story, a fable, tells the tale of a frog who was about to cross the river when a scorpion approaches the frog and asks the frog if he can climb upon his back so that he may also cross the river. The frog declines explaining that if he were to do that the scorpion would only sting him and then the frog would drown. The scorpion countered that both of them would drown if he stung the frog and would then defeat the purpose of stinging. The frog accepted the rationale and allowed the scorpion to climb upon his back and then jumped into the river and began paddling towards the other side. Midway, all of a sudden, the scorpion stung the frog, and the poor confused frog, just before drowning asked the scorpion why? The scorpion explained that he was a scorpion and it was in his nature to sting. Like a scorpion upon your back, its always when your crossing rivers when the government likes to strike. It is in the nature of governments to reign in the freedom of the people. If people are to be free then it must necessarily be in their nature to govern themselves and keep the scorpions at bay and firmly leash the dogs of war. If freedom is the goal, then it is in the peoples best interest to protect the Republic, so that the Republic might better protect the peoples freedom.

Answer 2

To answer the question, let's first define the important parts:

A Democracy in its most simplest form means a system of government where individual citizens have a direct [and meaningful] vote in their government. There are many different kinds of democracies - variations on what is a citizen, who can vote, and who or what they vote for. However, the overarching characteristics of the democracy is that at least a majority of citizen have the power to vote, that they have a choice when voting, that their votes dictate the direction of government policy, and that the citizen is (reasonably) frequently called upon to vote on government matter.

A Representative form of government is one where (some) citizens chose another citizen to make political decisions for them. That is, rather than a citizen being directly involved in Politics and Government, they chose a proxy to make their choice for them. Representative forms of government often have multiple layers of this action - a proxy is chosen at (say) the village level, then the village proxies get together and chose a county representative, who then may chose a regional proxy. How these representatives are initially picked depends on the actual system of government being used - voting is common, but not by any means universal.

Combining these two definitions, you find that a representative democracy is a system where the majority of citizens vote for a proxy to represent them in government - such representatives then govern in the citizen's name, and are (at least occasionally) forced to go back to the citizen to be re-authorized (i.e. re-elected) to hold their position.

The United States is a multi-faceted Representative Democracy: we elect representatives in many aspects of our government form, all of which have specific duties and limits on power. We periodically have elections to either retain or replace our representatives. And a majority of the population is allowed to vote (though sadly, less than half does).