Words matter.
(media.greatawakening.win)
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Thank you! I appreciate the information. I'm just trying to learn.
I understand we don't live in a democracy, but I'm still fuzzy on why calling a republic that follows democratic principles a democratic republic is wrong.
To me that sounds like a perfect description of what we are. Is the point of contention that it's what we ARE but not what we're supposed to be?
I'll give you one example to chew on: The Democratic Peoples Republic of North Korea.
If that doesn't make things click, I'm not sure how else to get the point across.
"Democracy" isn't a standard on which our laws are (supposed to be) based, the constitution is. Hence "constitutional republic".
We use the Democratic principle of voting to choose representatives who in turn vote to enact legislation, but that legislation is (supposed to be) guided and limited by the constitution, we and our elected leaders can't arbitrarily decide laws based simply on voting for it democratically.
For instance, legally, even a supermajority in Congress and the Senate can't make a law that robs a person of life, liberty, or property (the accumulated result of living your life freely) because, even if it's voted in favor of, we are a constitutional republic, not a democratic one. The constitution can't be voted against except in some extreme case where almost all of the states get together and say "alright, this isn't working, we need to overhaul something."
Awesome! Why this was so hard for people to spit out, I dunno. But I like this answer, thank you.