An Often Missed Distinction

04Oct09
A democracy is government by the people where majority rules. Supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly, or indirectly through periodically elected representation.

A constitutional republic is a government where officials are elected as representatives of the people, and must govern in accordance with a constitution that limits the power of government over the individual.

In a constitutional republic, the will of the majority is tempered by protections for the individual, so that no group wields supreme power.

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. – John Adams

The problem is that democracy is not freedom. Democracy is simply majoritarianism, which is inherently incompatible with real freedom. Our founding fathers clearly understood this. – Ron Paul

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. – James Bovard

Democracy is the road to socialism.
-Karl Marx

Ask yourself, which system do you feel you're living under today?