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just off the cuff (so correct me if i'm wrong): when a democracy has to make policy decision, decide a course of action, etc. every citizen gets a vote. every citizen is in on every little governmental decision. i believe we're told that Athenian's in the classical age of Greece has a democracy.
in a republic, citizens don't get a vote on everything. instead, their elected officials do most the work. states today that call themselves democracies are in fact republics.
so now you can tell me, was this a trick question?
Nope...
A democracy is a peoples' majority rule, So, that would be 51%. If 51% of people vote one way, much to the dismay of the other 49%, you have a lot of unhappy campers (49% to be precise). This is why democracies can suck and be problematic. The USA is not a democracy even though EVERYBODY thinks it is. It has been hijacked raped and twisted.
Our country was set up as a Constitutional Republic wherein all citizens are granted the same unalienable rights and freedoms respectively. This way, a majority rule of a Neo-con or Neo-lib order, CAN NOT impose their wills on the people. The citizens should always have their rights protected under the Constitution, which is better than having new laws constantly imposed on us. We the people are supposed to keep the government in check... not vice versa.
Also in a republic, we vote for delegates and representatives and our individual votes do not "directly" quantify an outcome. Caucusing and The electoral college are more examples (Trish you were somewhat on target here)
Bottom line is, this country is a Constitutional Republic that has been stolen by power hungry fucktards over its lifespan. Our civil liberties are barely remaining, the government has grown wayyy too big, and there are too many laws that are randomly enforced. The only hope right now is to vote in Ron Paul. He is founding father material and wants to give everybody their FREEDOM BACK!
Restore the Republic, elect RON PAUL. All other candidates are big-government talking heads and things will only get worse.
Fuck a bunch of Ron Paul. There's nothing about a republic that says you get to vote for or on anything, including your "representatives". If you want to get all technical one way, then keep it consistant. The very act of people voting at all is a democratic process. We've chosen to be a democratic republic, just like Athens, where the people vote in the management of the government. Unlike Athens & Rome, we no longer make a distinction between landlords & slaves, even though we did at first. That makes it a bit more unwieldy, but that's why we grant powers to our representatives.
If you want to "legalize the Constitution", you might want to try reading it first.
Actually the US is an oligarchy. Only millionaires get to run for senator/president.
Hipifried, the USA was in all actuality, intended and set up as a Constitutional Republic. The 10 articles of the Bill of rights granted us all our American freedoms and were supposed to be invincible and withstanding forever. Well, thanks to "Big Government" and all newly created and unnecessary bureaucracies (which Ron Paul wants to eradicate) our rights are not present anymore. Yes, the people having the right to vote was in fact a part of this Constitution. I Never said otherwise. We are supposed to elect people regularly, that swear to protect this sacred, magical document that was drawn up with liberty and freedom for all in mind. As I said, the country has been hijacked and is turning into a police-state.
My friend, when you say "Fuck a bunch of Ron Paul," the only person who is getting fucked... is you. He is standing up for your civil liberties. Wake up now, its almost too late. There is a reason the mainstream media tries to smear his message and black him out
http://www.RonPaulLibrary.org
ReEducate
I stand profoundly corrected. Thank you all.
I ain't buying it. I've heard all this before, & Ron Paul's been running for President for the last 3 or 4 years. He even ran once before as a libertarian. Here's some of my concerns:
Taxes) He won't be able to abolish the IRS. Good. You can't just do away with entitlements, & you certainly can't cancel the debt without paying it off. That debt is owed to us too. Like it or not, we're in debt. Over a third of the US annual budget is debt service. If there's no more income tax, it has to replaced by something or we defaust & lose all of our economic credibility. That leaves some kind of VAT. A regressive tax that punishes people for lack of disposable income. This has been the agenda of supply siders since day one. Shifting the tax burdon down is a recipe for disaster.
Foreign policy) Here's where he gets my attention. I agree with his statements on the military. In fact, I'd go a step further & say that the army should be disbanded & we should get out of the arms business altogether. However, I think we should step up our efforts to help the developing world develop. We should open trade even more. As far as I'm concerned, NAFTA's a good deal. I think it should be extended throughout the western hemisphere. I'm sick to death of all this isolationist nonsense from all sides. The world has much to offer us, other than raw natural resources.
Domestic policy) You can't just shut down the bureaucracy. We have regulations because we've found them to be necessary. Agencies are necessary to enforce the various regulatory codes that the public has demanded. OSHA saves lives. EPA protects the environment. Agencies of the department of labor protect your wages & overtime. NLRB protects the ability of workers to organize. CRC & its various sub-agencies protect people from discrimination. On & on... We need a basic infrastructure. We rely on it to carry out our normal functions within the society. Education is part of that infrastructure. Healthcare should be too. The safety net works. Social security is a good thing. Private industry, charities, & the individual states cannot & will not handle this shit. They never have before.
The idea that we're no longer a constitutional republic is just silly. It's just taken us this long to put the purpose of the government into effect. We aren't an agrarian society anymore, & I'm not willing to spin the nation back to the days of the robber barons. I don't know about you, but my rights are intact. I'm not crazy about the patriot act by a long shot, but it still has a sunset. The current administration, coupled with 12 years of lockstep republican silliness prior to 2007, was real bad but I have faith in the American people's memories. It may take a while to catch on to the goofiness of ideologues, but it happens. Americans got bamboozled by the Reagan insanity, but now they can see what happens when it gets carried to fruition. I don't want another ideologue in the Whitehouse. We need a dose of pragmatism.
You foolish man. Your rights are anything but intact. What, do you live under a rock? The Patriot acts 1 and 2, the Military Commissions act, no right to habeas corpus, etc etc etc.... and these are just scratching the surface. They chisel away your rights little by little under the cover of disinfo and distraction. Do the research yourself, its out there.
Anyway, Thomas Jefferson once said, "Any man that gives up his liberty for security, deserves NONE" and boy was he fucking right.
Your taking issue with Ron Paul is unwise, you have been misinformed because you are regurgitating all the Mainstream talking points, which attempt to smear him. Just like you, they all call him an isolationist and you know what? He is not! He is a non-interventionist and doesn't believe we should police the world and medal around in everybody's business, like the CIA has been doing for years. Dr. Paul wants to end such bureaucratic monstrosities. Please refer to and watch this short 2 minute clip on the history of the CIA if you don't believe me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDqhV52ww9A
Dr. Paul still wants healthy relations with all willing countries, that is trade, diplomacy and all things civil. War is not!!!
I also have to take issue with your pro income tax stance. Dr. Paul wants everybody to keep the money they earn (as they should) and be able to choose what they want to do with it. The IRS would not be needed if we didn't spend ALL of our money fighting ILLEGAL wars, building bases around the world and funding other regimes. I mean, please, the free market along with a sound money system, would balance the budget and all services would still function respectively. The war is the main factor putting this country in debt. We are borrowing billions from the Chinese to fund it? WTF is wrong with this picture here? We are destroying our economy to bring "democracy" to the middle-east???
Dr. Paul has the solution to ending inflation. He understands economics like no other candidate. He knows that all the issues today are not separate but tied interconnected. all other candidates are elitist puppets or foolish politicians. Ron Paul stands for the people and the document this country was founded upon.
Lastly, America was set up to be a Constitutional Republic. The minute the Constitution is violated, is the minute we cease to be.... America. Restore the Republic, vote for Dr. Paul