Republicanism or Democracy: Which is better and why?

[J.R. Brown]

Which form of government do you think is better and why?
I believe pure democracy can be dangerous. Mob rule would come in and would destroy the country. The Republican form would be the best in which all of the people choose their leaders to represent their interests in the government. However, their are flaws in pure republicanism.

[Jake]

A dictatorship is best, but a republic is the best democratic system of government. It is supposed to elect good representatives that aren't easily swayed by public opinion. Obviously, our republican system has been corrupted by special interests and the average fool on the street. Also, the recent poll that asked whether public opinion should come into play when the Supreme Court makes a decision, 50% said yes it should. The dangers of common fools running the country is seen again and again.

[John Dibble]

A dictatorship is best

If you have a benevolent dictator...which generally doesn't happen. But admittedly it is a great system if you have a ruler who isn't corrupt, cares about his people, knows how to get things done correctly, and will stay that way. Of course, whenever such a ruler dies you risk his replacement being crappy.

[J.R. Brown]

A dictatorship is best

Of course, whenever such a ruler dies you risk his replacement being crappy.

That's when the Democratic Revolution happens.

[Palefire]

Doesn’t the full quote from Plato run something like this……..The best form of government is a benevolent dictatorship punctuated by assassination.

[John Dibble]

A dictatorship is best

Of course, whenever such a ruler dies you risk his replacement being crappy.

That's when the Democratic Revolution happens.

Or, the dictator rules for life himself. A rebellion does not have a gaurantee of success.

[A18]

Name three countries you consider democracies, and post what distinguishes them from republics in your view.

[angus]

Doesn’t the full quote from Plato run something like this……..The best form of government is a benevolent dictatorship punctuated by assassination.

The problem was Plato didn't speak English, so you're at the mercy of his translators.  I must say I've always interpreted the line as "The most efficient..." rather than "The best..." 

καλύτερος  "best"

αποδοτικός  "efficient"

clearly, some room for argument is unavoidable.   There's a greek poster here somewhere.  Maybe he can clear it up. 

Anyway, it is Aristocracy, which, loosely translated means "rule by the best" that Plato said was his ideal form.  But I think Plato was probably a collectivist at heart and I have a very hard time believing, based on previous posts, that Dibble is anything of the sort.

Until the great unwashed masses wash themselves, democracy won't be a viable alternative.  And even then, it'd still be very inefficient.  I agree that Dictatorship is very efficient, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, which in some way is connected to my individualistic head.   Maybe I'd be a better engineer than a hair stylist, but dammit I don't want to be an engineer, I want to be a hair stylist.

Vive la république!

[Beet]

A dictatorship is a high risk. As a form of government, it can either be very good with a "benevolent" dictator that looks out for the people's good, or very, very bad with a self-interested dictator that makes others slaves to himself and generally mucks up running things. The ancients developed the system of dynastic lineage to ensure against this risk, but they couldn't eliminate it entirely.

Structurally, as a price for it's high short-run stability, a dictatorial form of government is highly unstable in the long run. Because it is so risky, it is likely at some point to encounter a leader that brings down the governmental system altogether; ala Mikhail Gorbachev.

Overall, the structural and risk problems of the dictatorial form of government mean that the costs generally outweigh the benefits in the long run.

***

A democracy is a horrid idea, and I'd never want to live in one.

***

In conclusion, vive la republique!

[Emsworth]

Any type of government would be in principle acceptable as long as it protects both the economic and the social freedom of its citizens. In practice, republics and constitutional monarchies tend to achieve this best.

[Beet]

Any type of government would be in principle acceptable as long as it protects both the economic and the social freedom of its citizens. In practice, republics and constitutional monarchies tend to achieve this best.

I haven't seen that much truth compacted within 2 sentences in a long time.

[TheWildCard]

A pure democracy can only work when only a tiny populace practices it, by tiny I mean like 500 people at the absolute most. A Republic is the best in both situations. The people still get to indirectly vote via their representatives. Its the best way and the only good way to control a large society.

[Citizen James]

A democraticly elected constitutional republic.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

A dictatorship is best

Fascist

[Jake]

A dictatorship is best

Fascist

I probably shouldn't bother, but I'll bite. A dictatorship is much easier than any form of democracy simply because there isn't debate. The dictator can immediately produce change or reform without allowing for easily swayed fools to debate his ideas, change them, or knock them down. Of course, a Hitler type dictator is certainly not desirable and is not better than a democratic system, but a benevolent dictator or an elected dictator, similar to those during times of crisis in the Roman Republic, are miles better than any democracy.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

So then you should like Hugo Chavez, since you consider him a dictator, meaning he replaced a republican system with a dictatorship in your view. Yet you hate him.

[12th Doctor]

"Democracy" as it is generically used is basically "Republicanism".  The idea that the people are represented by elected officials is the only functioning form of Democracy in the world today and, thus, is the only modern model.  If one wants to see true Democracy in action, you have to look at Athens, were this system was a miserable failure (ie Trial and Death of Socrates) and eventully imploded because people grew lazy, greedy, capricious and began to neglect thier civic duties.

[angus]

Born on the floor,
Nice!  you've been itching for a chance to legitimately work chavez into a conversation.  I admire that you bid your time well and waited for an appropriate opening.   good call.

still, it should be remembered that a dictatorship needn't be fascist.  Lech Walensa often points out that Red Flag authoritarianism is neither better nor worse than the Black Flag variety. 

Also, I'm pretty sure that outside a small subset of Bush's advisors (a small subset), most americans do not consider chavez a dictator.

Actually, I remember that the last time I was in Guatemala I read in La Prensa (or I think I read, my spanish is a bit rusty), that Alfonse Portillo, el presidente, had an 89% disapproval rating.  Eighty nine percent!!  That's pretty impressive.  They did away with their previous government in a civil war in the 80s and replaced it with good ole democracy.  Of course, the peasants elected a convicted murder, who would go on to become a recidivist murder.  Be careful what you wish for.  I think the point is that democracy, in its purest form, assumes a well-informed electorate.  This is our new religion:  democracy.  Most latinamericans, europeans, africans, and a respectable chunk of northamericans subscribe to that religion, and, moreover, we're pushing it around the world like Paul pushed Christianity.  I urge caution.  Democracy is damning enough when it's taken from within.  It must be really horrible when it's forced from without.

[MaC]

Republicanism would be harder to do, but more people would be happy.  Democracy requires majority rule, if there is discussion whether or not to egg your car and you vote no, but me and three of my friends vote yes, the motion is carried and your gonna have fun cleaning eggshells. 

Republicanism allows for minority opinion.  Same decision, but since you vote no to having your car egged, we cannot do it.  We must then decide who's car to egg, then vote on it, until we've come to a mutual agreement.  In this case it's Jake's car because we mutually agree it would be great to egg the car of a fascist ; )

[Beet]

Athens, were this system was a miserable failure

Athens was a failure because they recalled Alcibiades.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Which form of government do you think is better and why?

A republic.

Democracy has always been a great thing, but in America lately it's fallen into the wrong hands. The rights of a minority ought to be non-negotiable, which means a majority shouldn't be able to just vote to take away the rights of a minority.

[12th Doctor]

Athens, were this system was a miserable failure

Athens was a failure because they recalled Alcibiades.

If that is not simpistic, I don't know what is.  The whole failure of that time period was directly linked to the failures of direct Democracy.

[Jake]

So then you should like Hugo Chavez, since you consider him a dictator, meaning he replaced a republican system with a dictatorship in your view. Yet you hate him.

This would be relevent if I disliked Chavez for being a dictator, of course it's not because I dislike Chavez because he is anti-American.

[Beet]

Athens, were this system was a miserable failure

Athens was a failure because they recalled Alcibiades.

If that is not simpistic, I don't know what is.  The whole failure of that time period was directly linked to the failures of direct Democracy.

Yeah, I guess you're right.

[Citizen James]

Why do I get the feeling that this concept is tossed around mainly by people who are so blatently partisan that they intentionally confuse the government type terms with the parties which are similarly named. 

From the CIA factbook Definitions

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The United States is all of the above.  And it is good.  Not perfect, but more perfect than any other alternative tried to date.

For contrast:

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For those of you who love tossing around the term 'socialist' for anything short of nearly pure lazzes faire

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And for those of you who like Jerry Fallwell and his ilk.

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