Revisited: America is a representative democracy, a federal democratic constitutional republic.

Listen to the video, she dismantles EVERY Republican argument on this subject.

And you can't refute it.

 

When nothing she states is in the Constitution and its just her assumption of what it might say, there is nothing to refute.
Shes just another idiot with a Youtube channel.
So do you believe her, or whats written in the Constitution.
Bet you won't answer that question. lol

 

Nope. Ignore again for you...

 

Most on the left do ignore post they can't defend with their babble
Nothing new here

 

Yeah, bogus argument. Where in the Constitution does it say 'guns'?

Not a word about 'guns'. Is the second amendment about 'guns'? Yes or no?

see? 'firearms' and 'guns are NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE TERMS, where 'guns' is a descriptive and alternate term for 'firearms' the legal term.

Similarly

Republic and democracy are not mutually exclusive terms.

"Democracy' is the broader, more poetic, more descriptive term, which legal documents are not inclined to use. Got that?

What are you suggesting when you say 'America is not a democracy"

Are you suggesting that we no longer have elections?

That would leave us with tyranny.

If not, then we are left with a democracy, which is a descriptive, not a legal, term

Even among his contemporaries, Madison’s refusal to apply the term democracy to representative governments, even those based on broad electorates, was aberrant.

So says the Encyclopedia Britannica, a book put out by research of hundreds of scholars for over two centuries now

https://www.britannica.com/topic/democracy/Democracy-or-republic

And what does Hamilton say about it? In a letter from Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris, dated 19 May 1777, Hamilton wrote:

"But a representative democracy, where the right of election is well secured and regulated & the exercise of the legislative, executive and judiciary authorities, is vested in select persons, chosen really and nominally by the people, will, in my opinion be most likely to be happy, regular and durable."

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0162

And, again, in Federalist 22 Hamilton writes:

"....that fundamental maxim of republican government, which requires that the sense of the majority should prevail."

And in what type of nation will 'a sense of the majority prevail' A DEMOCRACY. Is that saying it's not a republic? no, it's not. This is not only a bogus argument, it is a stupid argument.

Hamilton was highlighting the necessity for a government system where the majority's opinion is central to its function and decision-making process,

And, then by Merriam-Webster:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/democracy-and-republic

...democracy and republic are frequently used to mean the same thing: a government in which the people vote for their leaders.

This is right off the Government's website

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/lesson-plans/Government_and_You_handouts.pdf

Democracy in the United States.

The United States is a representative democracy. This means that our government is elected by citizens. Here, citizens vote for their government officials. These officials represent the citizens’ ideas and concerns in government. Voting is one way to participate in our democracy. Citizens can also contact their officials when they want to support or change a law. Voting in an election and contacting our elected officials are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy.

Please stop it with your nonsense that America is not a democracy,. it's the biggest piece of horse twaddle that the right has ever come up with. The ONLY reason they are saying this now is because they are losing a lot of elections, and they need to poo poo democracy in order to feel good about themselves.

Truth hurts, I know.

Watch the video

 

That isn't the point. Repubs have been, of late, asserting that 'America is not a democracy', and the OP refutes it, particularly by attorney leejah miller in her video.

 

In what context tho? Is it in the context of responding to attempts to pass laws that could be percieved to run afoul of the constitution? I ask because for every person claiming 'we are not a democracy', there's someone else trying to use the 'we are a democracy' claim to do things that maybe a 51% majority can be found to support, but is also something the constitution forbids. The salient point being that both sides are presenting an oversimplified argument, that argument being that we are a constitutional democracy and thus a popular vote is sometimes, and sometimes not, enough to make a reform.

 

Thanks for digging it up - sorry, 34 minutes of blather don't interest me.

OK, just because I'm such a nice guy I decided to watch the video unlike the first looney leftism was spewed. Took all of :30 seconds.

 

Arms.......they didn't say rocks, or sticks, or conversations.

A Federal Republic and a Democracy are.

The UNITED STATES government holds no national elections. The UNITED STATES is not a democracy.

Did you really not learn the difference between the individual States and the Federal Government.

A Democracy would lead to the tyranny of the majority and exactly why we are NOT one.

It is an unnecessary superfluous one you for some reason have this obsession with assigning to the United States when in fact we are GUARANTIED not a Democratic Republic but simply and Republic in a FEDERAL system.

Not to the body.

That is not what the Constitutional Convention created ten years later where Hamilton was against a democracy was it.

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-01-02-0162

We have majorities prevailing in Republics too but we also protect the rights of the minority from the oppress of a Democracy. Note he did not say a democratic government.

I think you give to much credit to the intelligence of people who write things for the government and the people about whom they are talking. THE point I and others make here, that there is this misinformation out there about our form of government and what the founding fathers designed.

AGAIN the person writing this does not apparently understand the Difference between the UNITED STATES, the federal government and the STATES and localities. There are some democratic elections held at the state and local level.

When you have to resort to assigning bogus motives to the other side you just admitted you lost here.

Truth hurts, I know.

I did and refuted her.

 

You really didn't listen to her. It's long and detailed, but to really get it, you'll have to listen to all of it, sorry. There's a lot to cover.

The EC is an indirect democracy.

A republic is a government of appointed or elected leaders, direct or indirect. A democracy is the latter.

elected officers. A democracy elects officers and leaders, direct or indirect.

The highlighted is Madison making this distinction, but it's qualified in the last clause.

Even among his contemporaries, Madison’s refusal to apply the term democracy to representative governments, even those based on broad electorates, was aberrant.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/democracy/Democracy-or-republic

Political power rests with their representatives. How did they become representatives? They were elected.
That's what a democracy is. Or, you can call it a Republic.

In other words, a democracy. Or, a Republic, or a Democratic Republic, or a Constitutional Republic, or a Federal Democratic constitutional Republic, these are all terms for the same thing.


Therefore, Republic and Democracy are not mutually exclusive terms

Your premise is identical to the premise in this question:

Where in the constitution does it mention guns are a right?

do you understand? Just because the term 'arms' are used, doesn't mean we are not talking about firearms or guns.

Just become the term 'democracy' is not used, doesn't mean a Republic cannot be a democracy.

Do you understand?

I'm not obsessed, I'm just correcting the Right wing meme going around that "America is not a democracy'.

You guys are saying it, i'm just pointing out your inaccuracy.

 

Does the second amendment mention guns?

So, by your logic, the second amendment only is about firearms, and not guns.

Oh, they are the same thing.

"Representative Democracy" and "American Republic" are the same thing.

These are not mutually exclusive terms, just because one is in an oath, and the other isn't.

Elections in dictatorships are a sham. You know this so why are you making this specious argument?

Yeah, right and the Soviet Union was a Socialist Republic.

We are talking semantics.

We are a representative democracy, a type of Republic. There are all types of Republics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_republics

 

Watch the video.

Guns are not mentioned in the constitution.

Nor is the right of the Supreme Court to review legislation for constitutionality mentioned in the constitution.

Just because it's not specifically mentioned in the Constitution doesn't mean America is not a democracy.

A democracy is a Republic where citizens vote.

The only person among the framers of the constitution who declared that a direct democracy is not a republic was madison, and his contemporaries disagreed with him.

Your premise is specious.

"Representative Democracy" and "Constitutional Republic" are not mutually exclusive terms. In fact, they often describe different aspects of the same system. A constitutional republic is a form of government where officials are elected by the people and must govern according to an existing constitution that limits their powers. Representative democracy, on the other hand, emphasizes the democratic aspect of this system, where citizens vote for representatives to make decisions on their behalf. The United States can be described as both a constitutional republic and a representative democracy, as it embodies principles of both systems: it operates under a constitution and the government is elected by the people, albeit indirectly in the case of the presidency.

 

Repubs are making this claim because they need to feel good about having lost so many elections.

I never heard of them saying it for the first 63 years of my life, only in the last decade.

 

Strawman. You ignore the point. It doesn't say guns or democracy, but both are present as alternate terms.

America is a Federal Constitutional Democratic Republic, and a representative democracy.

We hold elections in every state, under the guidance of federalism. You are nitpicking semantics.
America is a Representative democracy.

If you are saying America is not a democracy, why are you making this point?

What is the point?

I will tell you.

The only time you guys started making this point is when you started losing the popular vote.

now you need to poo poo democracy because yu can't win the hearts and minds of we the people.

And so what, you want tyranny of the minority? somebody has to win an election, and the framers went with the majority.

We are a representative democracy, and no one is suggesting we aren't.

Why can't you understand this?

I linked to official sources, including Hamilton, which states America is a representative democracy.

Your trying to say that 'the united states doesn't hold elections' is a distinction without significance.

The states are united under a federal system, but each states there are elections, in those elections the majority wins.

That is what democracy is.

And in my entire life, I never heard anyone make this argument until Republicans started losing elections.

now they hate democracy.

I swear to gawd, you guys are a trip.

If you guys were winning elections you'd be hollering hallelujah for democracy.

Give me a break.

You lose.

 

LOL, best you can do is a cliched insult? IF you choose to swallow the swill from a vid of questionable provenance - have at it.

 

Up to the last decade, Democrats were more likely to stand up for civil rights than Republicans were. You're hearing it more now due to all the calls to restrict speech, ban guns and regulate the ownership of private property, all things that undermine individual civil rights as laid out in the constitution, and all things that are only ever called for with the claim of 'most people want it', which of course translates to 'its democratic'.

 

Her video is documented, and detailed, and shed light on all the republican talking points.

She crushes your argument, in toto.

You haven't refuted anything she said.

You just think you have. But, what you think and what reality is are two different things.

 

None of that refutes the OP that 'America is a Democracy'. (at least in principle).

 

Its not meant to. Its an explanation of what "the folks who claim that American is not a democracy" are actually talking about. Context matters.

 

She says what you want to believe. QED.

 

Except for the fact that the PEOPLE have little, if any, actual voice in government. Absent procedures like recalls, initiatives, and referendums they have none. "elective republic" is far more accurate.

 

Really?

https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-3/section-1/overview-of-supreme-court-rulings

So now that we've destroyed that nutty claim, let's look at what is really at the heart of the total package of silliness you've proposed.

Let's start simply with the definition of the structure of our government courtesy of "Schoolhouse Rock".

The Legislative branch makes the laws, the Executive branch executes the laws, and the Judicial interprets the laws.

Which means that while regulatory agencies exist under the Executive, their charter on how they operate is legislated by the Legislature.

So the regulatory agency I worked for, DOT's NHTSA was charged by Congress to administer the CAFE program of automotive fuel economy standards and their full charter, down to the fines they could impose, were defined in the statute that Congress passed. So far that's probably not going to tax anybody's brain power and, yes, if you really need to you can go to the NHTSA website and find the exact law that they operate under-completely up to date with any interim amendments.

Now let's look at another agency- the EPA. Founded in 1972 under the Clean Air Act (CAA), they existed for 35 years until 2007 without any Congressional authority to regulate the gas CO2. This is largely because CO2 has never in the history of the world been considered a pollutant. I mean, it's a normal part of respiration for all plants and animals including man. There are no unusual toxic effects of CO2 itself except maybe if you're in a spaceship and the oxygen scrubber goes kaput (reference the movie Apollo 13) or if you're in a room where the fire suppressor system kicks in suddenly.

So all of the sudden in 2007, CO2 became a regulated pollutant. So one would assume that perhaps Congress amended the CAA to make it so, correct?

Now, since it's necessary for you to verify what I've alleged, I'm going to challenge you (or really anyone) to find me the 2007 CAA amendment from Congress that made CO2 a regulated pollutant.

After that we can continue our lesson on why Conservatives (including those nasty MAGA types) really have a problem with what our Constitutional Republic has become without all the nasty blather and name calling.

 

You get what you want to believe from the Heritage Foundation, who has a vested interested in destroying democracy.

Naturally, since Republicans can't win elections, the solution is to destroy it. I'm sorry, but we're pulling your covers here and now.

 

Your article confirms my point, the power of judicial review wasn't established in the constitution, it was established
in Marbury v Madison, a court ruling.

So, the power of judicial rule was self dealt by the SCOTUS.

It has to be, because, of what value would the SCOTUS be if they didn't have it?

However, the POINT is, it's not in the constitution.

But the overriding point in this OP is rebuking the fake notion that 'America is not a democracy'.

But,. this idea that AMerica is a democracy is not in the constitution.

But, in EVERY election majority wins, in America.

Even in the president, a majority of electors wins. If no 270, the vote goes to the house, where, again, a majority wins.

Even in legislation, it gets passed in the house by majority vote, and same with the Senate (unless filibuster, which requires 60 votes, but that Is NOT in the constitution), so even legislation wins by majority vote.

So to say America is not a democracy is like saying a Collie is a dog, and not an animal. It's ludicrous.

"republic and democracy' are not mutually exclusive terms, and NO ONE is suggesting 'direct democracy'. Tha argument ended in the federalist papers, and no western democracy today is a direct democracy, so when the term is used, 'indirect democracy' is meant, which is to say, we are talking about a house of representatives, or something similar.

https://onlysky.media/mjohnson/were-a-republic-not-a-democracy-the-origin-of-a-weird-talking-point/

The argument that the United States is not a democracy originated in the heads of conservative thinkers with an incentive to preserve the power of the two fast-shrinking majorities that form the core of the Republican base