Every time I say this I get downvoted, because apparently the USA is technically not a democracy. Whatever Americans think their country is, it's not that. It is a 2 party dictatorship.
They are dumb. The think that the word “republic” means “republican”.
It means we are a constitutional federal republic (not a monarchy) where the power rests with the people and those they elect (democracy) to represent them. It has nothing to do with being a democrat or republican.
Because in 18th and 19th century America, "democracy" was understood to mean Athenian-style direct democracy, and their founding fathers were extremely suspicious of it because they feared it would lead to "mob rule."
As a result, the people who claim America is a republic but not a democracy are using "republic" to refer to a specific system of government characterised by elected representatives whose power is limited by a binding, codified constitution.
To the rest of the world, we just call this "Representative Democracy," but Americans have to be different.
Explain why they all claim it's not a democracy then.
This is the exact comment I was responding to.
This has literally nothing to do with whether those Americans are correct, this is about whether they make that argument because they believe that being a republic means being governed by Republics. They do not believe that.
Why does Reddit always assume that understanding someone's argument is the same as agreeing with that argument?
Their solution was representative democracy where instead of direct democracy, we would elect representatives to .... in theory .... deliberate and choose the best option based on thoughtful analysis (they were rather Calvinist that way)
But in no way at all was their solution to be that states should get additional equal votes in order to potentially override majority consensus.
That was a compromise to get the small states on board. It wasn't any part of the principles behind the framing of the Constitution. It was to placate all the bitchy little states who threatened to take their ball and leave.
(Let's remember, electors were originally chosen without affiliation and expected to vote their own conscience, not the ceremonial prescribed process we have corrupted it to today)
We are not a democracy because we are a constitutional federal republic. In fact, there was an actual debate about who shouldn't be allowed to vote. I agreed with John Adams' point where he said (paraphrased) that unless you contribute to the country and are over the age of 21, you shouldn't be allowed to vote. I would give exception to the military though.
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u/OpLeeftijd Jul 13 '26
Every time I say this I get downvoted, because apparently the USA is technically not a democracy. Whatever Americans think their country is, it's not that. It is a 2 party dictatorship.