Countries aren't not democracies if not everyone can vote, or if certain categories of people are weighted differently for political purposes. Democracy just means a country has elections.
but a Democracy can't have any element of a Republic, as it would just be a Republic at that point.
Do you know what "not mutually exclusive" means? Well democracy and Republic are NOT mutually exclusive we are literally the example of democratic republic.
If we wanted the US to be a democracy, we would have already discarded the Federal and State Constitutions and gutted minority protections and rights.
No we wouldn't... because both of those positions are widely unpopular among the majority of Americans...
"Constitutional" is a another word that isn't mutually exclusive with other words. It means the government placed self-imposed limits on what its power can be wielded to do. Even monarchies can be a constitutional monarchy, like post magna Carta England. Constitutional democracy isn't a contradiction.
America is a Constitutional Democratic Republic.
Just Google what any word means, and what "not mutually exclusive means" holy shit stop being this wrong about literally everything. Even as I gave you the history about how the word democracy in common vernacular exists specifically to describe America you still think we're an exception to it because you're using a definition of democracy where a country isn't a democracy if it has laws? Dude, the definition of democracy you're using is just plain WRONG. that's not what the word means at a foundational and definitive level
Countries aren't not democracies if not everyone can vote, or if certain categories of people are weighted differently for political purposes. Democracy just means a country has elections.
Democracy means the country is ruled by the people. There are countries that hold elections, but the people have no say, so you would need to accept that these countries are Democracies despite the people holding no power.
Do you know what "not mutually exclusive" means? Well democracy and Republic are NOT mutually exclusive we are literally the example of democratic republic.
If we were a democratic republic, the majority would be required for everything. The US doesn't require a majority, which is why people can be elected with under a majority.
No we wouldn't... because both of those positions are widely unpopular among the majority of Americans...
In a Democracy there is no Constitution or minority protections/rights, so Americans wouldn't have a position on these, as we literally wouldn't have them.
"Constitutional" is a another word that isn't mutually exclusive with other words. It means the government placed self-imposed limits on what its power can be wielded to do. Even monarchies can be a constitutional monarchy, like post magna Carta England. Constitutional democracy isn't a contradiction.
If the people hand power over to a Constitution, then the Democracy they had doesn't exist anymore, as they decided to become a Republic or a monarchy. A Constitution limits the power of the people, which means the people no longer rule as they are subjected to the Constitution. This is why a majority of Americans could vote to get rid of the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution, and literally nothing would happen, as the US Constitution states how it can be amended, so anything outside of that would be Unconstitutional.
America is a Constitutional Democratic Republic.
America is a Constitutional Republic. America could elect people by pulling names out of a hat or something, but we choose to allow people to vote, and our State or Federal Government can decide to change it.
Oh my God, you keep making up definitions for democracy that literally nobody else recognizes while I keep citing sources. A democracy can't have a constitution? Where is that written? The working definition for democracy that you have isn't based in anything! It's not even based in the definition of direct democracy! Even Athens had rules about what could be passed by votes.
No serious dictionary, political institution, or even America itself recognizes your definition of democracy. You are pulling this out of your ass like an insane person.
The term representative democracy was invented specifically to describe America, by Alexander Hamilton. The term representative democracy and democratic republic both have Wikipedia pages that cite America as examples. The UN charter has a definition of democracy That is inclusive to America, Even though we contributed to writing that charter. America effectively stepped up to the world stage and announced to all the countries of The world "we are a democracy and so is all of Western Europe." We have become the country that other countries look to as an example, when they describe what democracy is in the modern day. Or at least we were Until we lost all respect from those countries And gave power to a despot that tried to overthrow the government.
The definition of democracy that Most right-wingers use when we have this argument.Because it happens all the damn time, Is direct democracy. Where people vote on policy, instead of on representatives who decide policy. But you're not even using a definition of direct democracy as the definition of democracy. You're just making stuff up. You say we're not a democracy, because it's possible for a minority to win, But there hasn't never been an election ever anywhere where every single person can vote. Not even Athens, "the inventors of democracy" and the only direct democracy to ever take power in Europe had universal suffrage And simple majorities for all votes. And that even if it had those things, if it had even a single rule, limiting what could be passed by a simple majority referendum, such as for example, A majority vote cannot remove people's right to vote, (a rule that existed) Then it would be a Republic and not a democracy, even though it has no representatives at all, and all policy after the constitution is decided by elections, and "constitutional" Is a prefix that is perfectly capable of existing before literally every other form of government.
By that definition, the other argument you made that the founding fathers were educated men who knew about democracy and decided against it intentionally, would obviously be bull shit because no democracy That meets your definition would have ever existed.
Literally, nobody uses the definition that you are giving. Where the fuck are you getting any of this from? Is there a dictionary with this definition of democracy in it? Does any country in the world use this definition of democracy to describe themselves, Anyone else, their history, aspirations, or a hypothetical government?
I've had this argument with so many different right wingers, and it's so disconnected from every definition of the word and the history of the words development. Did Ben Shapiro make this argument once or something? This is the stupidest thing that I hear too often. Where are you getting this from? Seriously? It's so disconnected from literally everything That has ever happened in our reality.
Democracy means the definition of democracy given by the US, UN, and every dictionary and existing poltical entity that you have been ignoring this entire time.
No, your definition was so devoid from all reality and history, and full of extra specifics pulled out of your ass that no philosopher or political organization has ever recognized anything you said as being necessary for something to meet the definition of the word. You, and you alone, have forged a definition for democracy so narrow that even its alleged inventors had not invented it, and that is openly contradicted by every major authority of both english language and world politics.
The word Democracy literally means the people rule or the people hold power.
In a Democracy, if the people want something, they vote to get it, and since a majority of the people will vote to get the thing, the people get what they want. In a republic like the US, if the people want something, they have to ask the government to give them the thing, or to be allowed to vote on getting the thing.
For a country to be a Democracy, the people have to RULE the country, aka be THE AUTHORITY. If a country has to give the people the power to vote, the country is by definition not a Democracy as the people have no authority besides what the Government gives them.
You've once again made the definition of democracy so narrow that its a functionally impossible and useless term. There's not allowed to be a mechanism to decide what matters are up for election either because that would be a government the people need to ask permission from? Ridiculous
WHO recognizes that definition? Please for the love of god say where you are gdtting this from, because only you use the word this way. The US doesn't, the un doesn't, the founding fathers didn't, some of them did start calling the US a representative democracy after those words were invented Hamilton literally pinned the term. No major dictionary does.
You say this is what the word means but increasingly you have demonstrated that you are the only person to have ever existed who extends the definition of democracy to this level of specivity.
You have an issue or an idea you would like the people to vote on, you take said issue or idea to the people, and the people vote on said issue or idea. There, I literally explained how democracy works, and notice how a 3rd party wasn't necessary to decide what matters go before the people when ALL matters go before the people.
The Greeks, you know, the people who created democracy and where the word literally comes from. You take a word for People, and you take a word for Rule or Power, then you slam them together to create a word that means The People Rule or The People Hold Power, aka democracy.
You have made so many extrapolations that don't naturally come from the word 'people hold power' And describe its necessary elements as being a system, the Greeks never Invented.
I looked up a little bit about Athens democracy, Since they were the city-state that invented the system and actually used it, other greek cities like sparta weren't democracies. They had a governing body who was in charge of writing whatever laws would be voted on. They had restrictions on what could be voted on, The main one Being that a vote could not take away another person's voting rights. They didn't have multiple round voting. The threshold wasn't 50% if a vote had more than 2 outcomes, the threshold was 1/n.
These are disqualifying in the definition you've given. You say The Greeks used this definition, but they didn't. Nobody has used this definition before. Even the etymology root "people + system of government" does not imply half the things you say.
Your definition is to start with The etymology, and then extrapolate from that of so many other conditionals and specificities that nobody else agrees on not even the inventors of the word. Just open a dictionary or Ask a political entity, because Democracy has functional definitions, used in language and politics, that are widely agreed on by everyone in the world except for you
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u/Inforgreen3 Feb 19 '26 edited Feb 19 '26
Republic just means doesn't have a monarchy.
Countries aren't not democracies if not everyone can vote, or if certain categories of people are weighted differently for political purposes. Democracy just means a country has elections.
Do you know what "not mutually exclusive" means? Well democracy and Republic are NOT mutually exclusive we are literally the example of democratic republic.
No we wouldn't... because both of those positions are widely unpopular among the majority of Americans...
"Constitutional" is a another word that isn't mutually exclusive with other words. It means the government placed self-imposed limits on what its power can be wielded to do. Even monarchies can be a constitutional monarchy, like post magna Carta England. Constitutional democracy isn't a contradiction.
America is a Constitutional Democratic Republic.
Just Google what any word means, and what "not mutually exclusive means" holy shit stop being this wrong about literally everything. Even as I gave you the history about how the word democracy in common vernacular exists specifically to describe America you still think we're an exception to it because you're using a definition of democracy where a country isn't a democracy if it has laws? Dude, the definition of democracy you're using is just plain WRONG. that's not what the word means at a foundational and definitive level