Democracy vs. Republic

Below is a link to an interesting video, sent to me by a blog reader, which attempts to explain the differences between a Republic and a Democracy.

My take is that it leaves out the fact that the representatives who make the laws in our Republic (vs. a Communist People’s Republic) are elected by the people, in a hopefully democratic fashion. Or are supposed to be. One of my concerns is that much of the “law” is now being made by the courts and bureaucracies. Contrary to the dichotomy presented, we used to be a Democratic Republic, but are becoming a Bureaucratic Republic, with laws made by those who do not answer to the people. Instead of an unelected oligarchy ruling the country, more focused oligarchies rule selected pieces of our lives: housing, education, farming, the environment, welfare, homeland security, health care, and so on. In the name of doing the “Good Work” (as they see it), our freedoms are restricted a bit more each year, in dozens of areas by dozens of bureaucracies.

Each of those bureaucracies develops constituencies, so the “democratically” elected representatives are fearful of disturbing them, as these constituencies care a great deal, and the rest of us have little time or interest in paying attention.

http://www.wimp.com/thegovernment