This short movie has a great explanation between a democracy & a republic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFXuGIpsdE0 fun
The term democracy is used quite often - it purports to signify 'government by the people'... There are however other questions that are relevant when talking of democracy: - who gets to vote. In ancient Greece and during the Roman Republic, only citizens that owned land, and could read an write were allowed to vote. Even in the elections held in the early American Colonies. Voters that have a 'conflict of disinterest' in the government may vote differently then ...
This is fascinating for someone interested in explaining what is happening nowadays in the western world. Yuri Bezmenov gave an interview back in 1983 or 84 describing the methodology utilized by the soviets - using the 'idiots' inside the gates. These now split the USA in half and constitute a majority in the EU.:worried1 http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...=bezmenov&aq=0
For those interested, the Chomsky x Dershowitz debates of Youtube are interesting to watch: http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...tz+debate&aq=3
I am always so amazed at how we human beings or at least some significant number of us, process information received. Some seemingly innocuous gossip takes a life of its on, going 'viral', being viewed by 2 million people, even when highly questionable in its provenance. Whe have however, pressing issues, of utter consequence to everyone and that information yet goes hardly noticed. What is left in the 'public mind' is a mishmash of unconcatenated information virtually useless ...