vijayjohn wrote:I'm not sure what your point is. No country in the world is administered by mob rule, either, right? So then wouldn't it make sense to say that they're basically saying democracy = direct democracy? Or are you just saying that since no country is a direct democracy and Athenian democracy was elitist, it doesn't make sense that people would feel a need to specify that they're not a direct democracy?
Now you're making me confused too but I am saying the latter, more or less. Americans talk about democracy as if it means direct democracy which they seem to equate with mob rule. I am saying all of that is dumb and in modern times, democracy means representative democracy. Direct democracy does not exist and even though the concept came from ancient Greece, the standard historical example (Athens) was not much of a direct democracy anyway.
But you just said republic and democracy mean the same thing now, yet not every country that isn't a monarchy is a democracy!
Most democracies are republics as far as I know. If we are defining republic as "not monarchy", then almost every country is a republic. That doesn't mean all republics are democracies in the sense of having free elections though. I made a mistake by equating them.
To reiterate in case you are still confused:
democracy: elected representative government
republic: government which is not a monarchy
The important thing is that the United States is both a republic and democracy by the definition above.
Also, what distinguishes a constitutional monarchy from an absolute monarchy? Oman is obviously an absolute monarchy and not a constitutional monarchy because it has no constitution in the first place, only decrees by the Sultan, but it seems other countries that are considered absolute monarchies do have a constitution. So why are they absolute monarchies and not constitutional ones?
I didn't say anything about the difference between absolute and constitutional monarchies but it's right there in the name. In one, the monarch has absolute power and in the other it's limited by a constitution.
A country can be a constitutional monarchy (so not a republic) and also a democracy, though an absolute monarchy can't. This is another mistake I made in equating republics and democracies. They are often the same thing, but not always. But IMO whether a country is a republic is a formality, and whether it's a democracy is more important in practice.