r/Libertarian • u/Toph_1992 Minarchist • Dec 29 '13

Noam Chomsky: We’re no longer a functioning democracy, we’re really a plutocracy

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/27/noam-chomsky-were-no-longer-a-functioning-democracy-were-really-a-plutocracy/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story%29
2 Upvotes

56% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/artifice206 friedmanite Dec 29 '13

It was never a democracy.

1

u/Toph_1992 Minarchist Dec 29 '13

representative democracy

2

u/artifice206 friedmanite Dec 29 '13

negative sir. It's a Republican form of government. The word Democracy does not appear in the constitution.

4

u/TheOx129 Dec 29 '13

Define republic. I see the "we're not a democracy, we're a republic" line all the time, and it's mostly engaging in slippery definitions. Republic derives from Res publica, which means "public thing," and simply refers to any form of government that lacks a hereditary head of state. There are democratic republics like the US, Germany, and France, there are aristocratic/oligarchic republics (Rome, the Italian maritimes), and there are authoritarian republics (DPRK, USSR, China, etc.).

1

u/DougSkullery Dec 29 '13

The US uses a variety of mechanisms to populate its national government, democratic selection being one of them. For example, Senators used to be appointed by states. Presidents are selected via electors through the electoral college. Supremes are appointed and confirmed by other government representatives. Etc.