Unmasking the Myths: US Democracy or Republic?

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The majority of Americans when asked what type of government their country practices, will answer with a strong and proud, “Democracy!” but the reality is vastly different. The Unites States is not strictly a democracy. Democracy as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary is, “a system of government in which all the people of a state or polity… are involved in making decisions about its affairs, typically by voting to elect representatives to a parliament or similar assembly,” (Oxford English Dictionary) and if you observe our practices including gerrymandering, the electoral college, the intentions of the founding fathers, our history of racism and discrimination, and a republic vs. a democracy, you will see that the U.S. is in fact, not …show more content…

Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" (Ben Franklin). The intentions of the founding fathers was to create a Constitution based Republic regardless of the beliefs of the majority of people today, who believe their intention was to create a democracy. “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.” (Thomas Jefferson) said Thomas Jefferson founding father and 3rd U.S. President. The founding fathers of the United States new the difference between a Democracy and a Republic, and the clear intent was to create a Republic in America. There’s proof of this in documents and various quotes. In Article IV Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution it states, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion”, and there it is clearly stated. Democracy is not declared anywhere in the Constitution. Founding father James Madison, the 4th President of the United States warned of the hazards of democracies, "Hence it is that democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general have been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths... A republic, by which I mean a government in which a scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking." (James

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