Quote:
Originally Posted by WillysB
And ignorance is bliss.
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Then you must be a very blissful person.
To briefly make my point, the movie makes the erroneous error of comparing a Republic with a Democracy.
As Merriam Webster points out:
A republic is defined as;
1 a (1): a government having a chief of state who is not a monarch and who in modern times is usually a president (2): a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government b (1): a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law (2): a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government c: a usually specified republican government of a political unit <the French Fourth Republic>
Thus a republic can be a direct democracy or a representative democracy, further a republic can be oligarchical in nature. In point of fact, one might consider, by definition, the original 13 states to have been oligarchical by design. The ability to participate in government was highly restricted, to white male property owners, aproximately 10 to 16% or the population. The Senate, was appointed, not elected, and the same for electors to the Electoral College. To make matters even more elitist the 3/5ths rule gave the south far more representation than it deserved. Yet despite all that, your YouTube reference material seems to ignore all of that taking place at the same time the Mr. Franklin was addressing this anonymous woman.
In short, a republic can exist under an oligarchy, a representative democracy or a direct democracy, by definition.
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