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Old 10-08-2010, 05:05 PM   #18 (permalink)
The_Dunedan
Junkie
 
Correct. However, in a Republic the power of democratic initiative is tempered by what we in the US terms "Checks and balances*" between branches of government which share no authority or powers, and which are intended to be intensely adversarial. Furthermore, in a Republic the ability of the majority to exercise democratic franchise is limited by a body of codified laws specific to that purpose which are difficult to change or alter, and which are -intended- to be easily understood and (absent aforementioned difficult changes) permanent.

A Republic may therefore be loosely defined as a sub-type or relative of democracy. However, in a Democracy the power of the Mob, of the uninformed and easily-misled majority (because any Group is only as smart as it's stupidest member) is essentially unchecked. Moreover, in a Republic the Right of Franchise is typically extended only to those with extensive and hard-to-sever ties to a given community (landowners) and those who have indicated an interest in serving the interests of the Body Politic and the Republic itself (the so-called Starship Troopers scenario). This is intended to keep laws from being made or monies from being spent for "light and transient causes," as Mr. Jefferson put it, and to keep people who will -not- be affected by a given law from passing laws which will adversely affect their neighbors.



*Not sure if y'all have a different term?
__________________
"I personally think that America's interests would be well served if after or at the time these clowns begin their revolting little hate crime the local police come in and cart them off on some trumped up charges or other. It is necessary in my opinion that America makes an example of them to the world."

--Strange Famous, advocating the use of falsified charges in order to shut people up.
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