AH - Democracy vs. Republic

I did not respond to this question very thoroughly in class, so let me clarify. The difference between a democracy and a republic is related to the way the will of the people is carried out. In a democracy, the people make as many choices as possible. In a republic, some individuals are chosen to carry out the will of the people. A pure democracy - with every decision discussed and decided upon by the citizenry - has never existed on a large scale. It is possible to run a village or a church this way, but we have never had a nation run this way. Greece always had the ideal of a pure democracy, but usually they ended up running a system closer to a republic. A republic is much more workable. Elected officials can meet in one place and make decisions that affect the people.

From this description, it is clear that the United States is a republic. We have elected officials who make laws, set policy, establish taxes, etc.

The thing people in a republic need to watch out for is abuse of power. There must be a method in place to make sure that the officials stay accountable to the will of the people. If they don't, they run the risk of revolution. Even without a typical revolution, sometimes the republican system will be replaced or overpowered by an individual who is seen as representing the will of the people better than the corrupt government. This happened in Greece with tyrants such as Peisistratus. It also happens in the Roman Republic with the rise of the Caesars.

I have made an observation that may be interesting to you. Largely, I have found that Republican tend to like the Romans, while Democrats prefer the Greeks. You can see how, in some ways, the ideals of these powers reflect the ideals of these parties. The Greeks believed that equality was the goal of the state. Much of the wealth of the Athenians belonged to Athens, and they put a lot of effort into making sure it was distributed fairly. The Romans saw the state's role as expanding and providing opportunity. They were less concerned with equality, and more concerned with making sure people were rewarded for service.

I don't want you to read too much into this. Greece and Rome were very different from any government we have today. Also, I don't think this came about intentionally. If you look at the history of the parties, the Democrats were for the independence of the states, while the modern Republican Party was founded largely to oppose slavery in the middle of the 19th century (there were earlier parties that used the name "Republican," but the modern party started in opposition to slavery). The positions of the two parties developed slowly, and not in an effort to copy the concerns of Greece and Rome.