i ask because i am under the impression the majority does not rule in this country -- that we have a constitution that protects the rights of everyone, including the minorities. but when it comes to issue outside of constitutional rights, it seems hazy.
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
Post subject: Re: what form of government do we have?
Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 6:58 pm
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Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:47 am Posts: 46000 Location: Reasonville
Orpheus wrote:
Oligarchy, mostly.
well, it's definitely not an aristocracy
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
_________________ "Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires." -- John Steinbeck
Post subject: Re: what form of government do we have?
Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 2:11 am
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Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:47 am Posts: 46000 Location: Reasonville
broken iris wrote:
corduroy_blazer wrote:
i ask because i am under the impression the majority does not rule in this country -- .
Why on earth would you want America to ruled by the majority of it's citizens?
i wouldn't.
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
Post subject: Re: what form of government do we have?
Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 3:07 am
Reissued
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2004 3:38 pm Posts: 20059 Gender: Male
broken iris wrote:
corduroy_blazer wrote:
i ask because i am under the impression the majority does not rule in this country -- .
Why on earth would you want America to ruled by the majority of it's citizens?
or any country, really.
according to my favorite website: A constitutional republic is a state where the head of state and other officials are elected as representatives of the people, and must govern according to existing constitutional law that limits the government's power over citizens. In a constitutional republic, executive, legislative, and judicial powers are separated into distinct branches and the will of the majority of the population is tempered by protections for individual rights so that no individual or group has absolute power. Constitutional Republics are a deliberate attempt to diminish the threat of mobocracy thereby protecting dissenting individuals and minority groups from the tyranny of the majority by placing theoretical checks on the power of the majority of the population
So it seems that would describe America pretty accurately. Or, to be a little more specific, we would be a Federal Constiutional Republic, since we also have the separation of powers b/w national and state(and to a lesser extent local) levels.
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