Facebook Follies of Friends and Families

[merithyn]

Agreed with Spicy. People bleating about us being republic-not-a-democracy have no understanding of our governmental system or what those terms are supposed to mean.

This surprises... who?

[The Brain]

President Bartlet said that the US isn't a democracy but a republic.

[Oexmelin]

Agreed with Spicy. People bleating about us being republic-not-a-democracy have no understanding of our governmental system or what those terms are supposed to mean.

Or perhaps, they like the idea that the American republic silences and censors certain types of people.

[Eddie Teach]

Which type is that?

[Oexmelin]

The type of people authoritarians disagree with.

[Eddie Teach]

Do you mean people being silenced hypothetically or in actuality?

[Oexmelin]

What I am saying is that a not insignificant number of conservatives are now peddling the point that the United States is a Republic because they support distortion in the democratic process, whether existing ones, like the electoral college, or gerrymandering, or some they seem to aspire to, notably the power of the executive, or a variety of restrictions on the vote.

[Admiral Yi]

I don't see the connection between any of that and whether the US is a "representative republic."

[Oexmelin]

Spend some time on twitter, or right-wing boards, or comment sections. "America is not a democracy" is convened to fight critiques of Presidential fiat, arguments invoking majority opinion, and critiques of the electoral college - to name a few.

[DGuller]

I don't see the connection between any of that and whether the US is a "representative republic."

The connection is that republic by definition doesn't have to be all that representative, it just has to be lacking a monarch.  Assad's Syria is a republic.  Now, you don't have to take it all the way there, but you do get some wiggle room to play with when democratic ideals get a little annoying.

[Admiral Yi]

The connection is that republic by definition doesn't have to be all that representative, it just has to be lacking a monarch.  Assad's Syria is a republic.  Now, you don't have to take it all the way there, but you do get some wiggle room to play with when democratic ideals get a little annoying.

I meant the empirical connection, not the logical one.  Sorry I wasn't clear.

[Razgovory]

Spend some time on twitter, or right-wing boards, or comment sections. "America is not a democracy" is convened to fight critiques of Presidential fiat, arguments invoking majority opinion, and critiques of the electoral college - to name a few.

There is some really weird shit being talked about in Right-wing circles.  Libertarians have flirted with the idea of monarchy for a while, but the way evangelicals talk about Trump...  Though few say explicitly they are in favor of a monarchy, and in many cases I don't think they fully understand what they are saying, the arguments they make for Trump are the same arguments that were made for monarchs.  The idea that the President's authority comes from God rather than the people.  God raises up a king...  Several influential evangelicals have compared Trump to Cyrus the Great.  I get the feeling they don't know much more about Cyrus than was in the Bible, since "Iranian multi-Culturalist" would not be first thing that comes to my mind when you mention Donald Trump.

[dps]

I don't see the connection between any of that and whether the US is a "representative republic."

The connection is that republic by definition doesn't have to be all that representative, it just has to be lacking a monarch.  Assad's Syria is a republic.  Now, you don't have to take it all the way there, but you do get some wiggle room to play with when democratic ideals get a little annoying.

Syria isn't a republic in any meaningful sense.

[Darth Wagtaros]

I don't see the connection between any of that and whether the US is a "representative republic."

The connection is that republic by definition doesn't have to be all that representative, it just has to be lacking a monarch.  Assad's Syria is a republic.  Now, you don't have to take it all the way there, but you do get some wiggle room to play with when democratic ideals get a little annoying.

Syria isn't a republic in any meaningful sense.

The Assads have won the popular vote by 99.99% since old Hafez came into power through peaceful democratic means.

[DGuller]

Not all republics are liberal republics.