On Tuesday, March 18, 2003 9:03 AM, Han Tacoma (that's me) wrote: > On Monday, March 17, 2003 5:05 PM, Jon Gabriel wrote: > > > >From: "iaamoac" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > >Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 21:39:52 -0000 > > > > At 15:11 17-03-03 -0600, Dan Minette wrote: > > > > Q.E.D. > > > > > >Uhhh..... I don't know how Dutch dictionaries work, but in English > > >dictionary definitions are *OR* propositions, not *AND* propositions. > > > > I looked it up, thinking John was wrong. He's not: > > [...snip...] > > > Back to the deuling dictionaries, I guess. > > > > Julia, would you mind posting the OED definition of "republic", please? > > :) > > Jon > > I bet a lot of people on the list have friends that send them > "the joke of the day" email, at least I have a couple of those :-) > > FORMS OF GOVERNMENT EXPLAINED USING COWS > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > [...snip...]
On a more serious note perhaps an answer is in the US Constitution itself and the way I read it, point (8) establishes that a republic is not the same as a democracy, by virtue of using the term _versus_ (v.). | Under the US Constitution, no less than ten different checks and | balances were built into the system. | | 1) States and Territories pitted against the Central Government. | (Vertical separation of powers). | 2) The Senate against the House | (Both houses to pass bills). | 3) The President against the Congress | (Veto power). | 4) The Judiciary against the Congress | (Power to declare laws unconstitutional). | 5) The Senate against the President | (Appointments and treaties have to be ratified by the Senate). | 6) The people against their representatives | (The house is elected every 2 years). | 7) The State legislatures against the Senate | (Originally Senators were elected by State Legislators). | 8) The Electoral College against the People | (Republic v. Democracy). | 9) The People against the Central Government | (Jury nullification). |10) Both Houses against the President | (Impeachment). I seem to remember (while reading Rousseau) that Switzerland is probably the _purest_ form of democracy. The citizens had the duty to participate in the affairs of government by attending council meetings and having some form of referenda to decide on legislation. Peru is a republic (I guess we have agreed that the USA is one as well?) and the rules vary somewhat, i.e. the citizens must fulfill their civic duties by voting (if you don't you have to pay a fine) -- which is something I totally agree with. BTW, although Fujimori is in Japan (self-exiled), while he was the head of state in the beginning he declared a period of dictatorship (specified by a period when he would re-instate democracy -- something for which he kept his word) to be able to extricate the corrupt elements entrenched in the democratic institution (judiciary, legislative, etc.) in order to face The Shinning Path. He apparently hit the nail right on the head -- there exists no democratic procedure to expunge corrupt elements from an established democracy, because only after ousting judges, senators, etc. was he able to put the lid on terrorism. Too bad the company he kept brought him down with them. One of my gripes here in Canada (Constitutional Monarchy -- a Parliamentary Government) is that, just as in the USA, people don't vote! -- just go check the participation statistics (less than 40%?) -- and so the concept of "representative democracy" is in my opinion flawed and gives me very little hope for what I would like to see, namely, a "participatory democracy". This phenomena shows itself at all levels: - municipal - state / provincial - federal ...I'm about to start ranting, so I'll stop before I put foot-in-mouth, if I haven't already ;-) Cheers! -- Han Tacoma ~ Artificial Intelligence is better than none! ~ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
