Democracy is 2 wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.

A democracy is a representative form of government wherein majority rule dictates all laws. So, almost any government action, whether moral or not, can be labeled as "fair" and "right" if it has majority opinion backing it. This is what our founding fathers called the "tyranny of the majority" that is characteristic of all standard democracies that have no constitutional safeguards or other limits on government power.

This is one of the main reasons why the founding fathers wanted a republic with federalism and a system of checks and balances on each branch of government. With federalism, power is broadly distributed among various levels of government (local, state, federal), in order to avoid a concentration of power and the danger that results from the corruption and tyranny that follows.

The political debate (and foundational principle of each of the 2 dominant political parties) from the very beginning of our country has centered on where the proper balance of power (between levels and branches) should be. Modern Democrats have always wanted majority rule (democracy) as the guiding principle for everything, as well as a very strong central government in DC. Republicans were founded on the idea of preserving our republic with its constitutional limits on federal power. This is why progressive Republicans are labeled as RINOs (Republicans In Name Only), since they ignore the foundational principles of the party.

The history of the 2 dominant political parties in the U.S. outlines the battle in the balance of power between states and the central (federal) government, as well as between the executive and legislative branches of the federal government. A condensed summary of that history, from its beginning, would be:

1) Federalists vs. Democratic-Republicans (Anti-Federalists) -- Federalists wanted more power in the initially weak central government. Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans objected but wanted majority rule as a stronger feature of our republic.

2) Democrats vs. Whigs -- When Jefferson's party coalition later splintered, Andrew Jackson's Democrats thought the Presidency should be the most powerful branch of the federal government. Whigs, on the other hand, believed Congress should be the most powerful.

3) Democrats vs. Republicans -- The founding principles were the stronger emphasis on "democracy" (majority rule) vs. "republic". However, progressives later took over the Republican (GOP) party before finding a more compatible home in the Democrat party and concentrating mostly there. Today, the modern GOP is the most politically diverse party coalition, and thus the most fractious -- RINOs, conservatives, some libertarians, the Tea Party wing, foreign policy hawks, Chamber of Commerce types, etc... No sub-group of the GOP party coalition can get elected on its own. So, there is always a struggle among the sub-groups to play a more dominant role, while trying to hold the fractious, diverse coalition together. The modern Democrat party is far more unified behind the principles of caffeine-free socialism imposed by an all powerful federal government that justifies its progressive policies based on majority rule.

Good post, Zen! At least it's a pet peeve of mine. Every time I hear the President, or some other politician refer to "our Democracy", I almost wretch.

They know what they're saying...bastards! It just paves the way for any majority that thinks they are sanctioned by "what's fair for everybody", by god, or by the 'elite' to bury our individual rights.

Democracy. 21st century serfdom.

All democracy means is that people vote. It doesn't mean that they vote intelligently. I don't even know how we can call the US a democracy when less than half the eligible population votes and half of the half that do vote, just pick the guy who "looks" the part so they can get back to watching reality TV and tweetering about it.

Democracy = mob rule. A transcript of the debates at the Articles of Confederation and the Constitutional Convention will reveal just how reviled the term "democracy" was.

Well said! I agree entirely and remind all that democracy is mobocracy. It is two wolves and a sheep on a desert island discussing what will be served for dinner. If you recall who Aaron Russo was, he produced this documentary on the topic of America's loss of freedom and incremental conversion to Progressive Democracy. If you are not familiar with Aaron's video, "From Freedom to Fascism" please watch it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6ayb02b...

Democracy "a state religion". Perfect. I'll use that one.

Benjamin Franklin told a questioner we had "a republic, if you can keep it." A republic is a many-layered government system, in which each layer relates to the layers immediatly up and down, and no further. The bottom layer is the household; the top is the federation of the nation-state. That's what federalism is supposed to be about.

Bind them down with chains of the Constitution, Jefferson said. The other word for slavery is altruism.

Before moving on to this page, I guessed that the most deceptive word was "fairness", followed maybe by "consensus." "Democracy" is simply an instance of what is meant by fairness.

So I told people to vote on August 5th here in Michigan and as usual the PRIMARIES "low turnout" provided politics as usual. It was dismal, but my wife and I still voted our hearts and what we knew this state needed. More Constitutionalism. Did it happen? No. Everyone asked when they seen we had the little sticker that says "I Voted" on my shirt was it time to vote today? Their answer "well I did not know". Bahhhh, Bahhhh. And the sheeple go marching on. And those elites keep micturating all over the once called Constitution. Great add Zen. Sad, but true.

I especially enjoyed the use of the word "democracy" (or democratic) in such bastions of "social equality" as the Deutsche Demokratische Republik ("East Germany") or "The Democratic Republic of the Congo" I think it was (communist nightmare state...). There was even one which fancied itself the "People's Democratic Republic" of something; forget which one... another nightmare state of course. Then there is Wilson, who ran on a peace platform, suddenly demanding (and receiving) a declaration of war against the German Empire, in 1917, for a sinking (Lusitania, two YEARS earlier...full of munitions too just like the Germans said) - in a campaign to "Make the world safe for democracy." The word is a shibboleth for "nanny state." Total control of everything because Der Stadt "CAAAAAAAres" about YOU, little serf-ling skraelings!

I was taught that democracy works like this: You are walking along the street with your beautiful wife, when you are approached by three hooligans. They stop you and say they want to assault your wife. You object. They suggest a vote. It's three to one in their favor. You lose.
Democracy in action!

Democracy is when we are ruled by Dem.

There is no such thing as a "public mind or a public conscious". politicians always say what they want even though they do not know the definition of most of the words they use. they do not care because it is obvious that the greater bulk of the population here or any other country also is ignorant of the meaning of the words of their respective languages. hence the use of even though incorrectly the word democracy.

Democracy is simply a collective group vote where the majority wins all. The vote may be on anything, such as electing a representative, a school improvement proposal or whether or not to allow gays to legally marry. It is not about rights or freedom or justice or civility or equality or fairness or even voluntary. Each eligible member can vote or not vote but the majority always rules all regardless.

In its basic unrestricted form democracy is mob-rule and results in groupthink. With the rational limits of respecting individuals rights and a republic form of government, it can help create what America should be.

"rockymountainpirate" said it better than anywhere else I've encountered... short and sweet, like one of those old Russian proverbs which manages to capture the essence of something in humorous yet wry imagery. Well done!

The socialist and communist tyrants understood this concept well -- The Democratic Republic of North Korea, the German Democratic Republic, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and lately, exporting democracy to the world, American style, as in American-written Sharia constitutions for Iraq and Afghanistan.

Democracy as a process when applied by skilled individuals acting in good faith is the panacea that the tyrants want us to see --

Democracy can work when the group's status is that of true peers -- Democracy will inevitably fail when their is real inequality within the group.

Sorry, this is the Straw Man fallacy, at the worst. Shame on you. We don't need illogic, thats the other sides position.
Democracy is a form of government that has an electorate of 'citizens' (note, not always universal, often restricted to a subset of the population.) which chooses their leaders, normally via election, by the majority. As anyone who remembers high school knows, its seldom the best who get nominated, let alone elected.