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The theory of Republicanism has its roots in Ancient Greece in Plato's book, The Republic. It believes political power should rest in the hands of the citizens of the country, as opposed to hereditary rule (monarchy, dictator) or aristocracy (rule by the social-economic elite). The resulting system of government is a "republic," in which the citizens vote to elect government officials, representatives to a legislature to pass laws and a head of state (president). A republic limits the power of government according to a written constituion. In a republic, the rights of individuals and the minorty are protected, as in the protections in the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution. In a pure democracy, the majority has absolute rule and those in the minority have no rights. In the U.S., the idea of republicanism was established by the Founding Fatlhers during the American Revolution. A good reference work is john Locke's Second Treatise of Civil Government. -- Contributed by Ray Kovach, Chicago, IL
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Which document associated with republicism individual rights separation of powers and checks and balances?
Bill of rights
What type of government did the ancient Greeks invent?
The government started out by having a few rich men lead their city-state. But later that switched to democracy. A government ruled by the people. Today in America we still use this form of government.
What is it called when citizens select the individuals who represent them in the government or decide an issue?
A Republic - it differs from a democracy where the people vote dirrectly for the issues. The US is a Republic (You said so in the Pledge of Allegiance) --- one Republic, under God, indivisible,....and so on and so on
Is democracy or socialism better?
It depends on what type of democracy really. The Republic option of democracy is better than socialism. The government works better because they allow the real business people do the real work. The government in all truth is supposed to be designed to represent its nation and help it whenever it can. The government though isn't designed to bail out companies though that can't afford to pay back their loans to the government. The government will just control that company until the next president lets go of it and allows it to fall like it should. Socialism really is just a bi-product of communism. It has some ideaology of republicism but it has more communism. Socialists governments though work their way up to become a communist nation to take away people's freedoms that were given to them from the American Revolutionary War.
Example of republicism?
I'm not sure if this is an actual word, but if what is meant is the philosophy underpinning the form of government known as a republic, then I can definitely supply some information. Understand first that this form of government is contrasted with a pure democracy. Both forms of government fit under the rubric of democracy, but as opposed to pure democracy where all people vote on all issues, a republic is best understood to mean a representative democracy. James Madison understood it best and wrote about it most clearly in the Federalist Papers, Number 10. (http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa10.htm). His most important point of the superiority of a republic to pure democracy lies in controlling what he calls "factions." Another way to understand it is to understand what can happen with the "tyranny of the majority." Human history verifies the danger of the mob mentality. These "factions" require tempering, and Madison viewed the republic form of government as perhaps the best balance between oligarchy (the few rule) and pure democracy, where the mob can rule. Representative democracy is a form of oligarchy (the few rule), but the few answer directly to the people through elections. Further, in a republic, the power of the few is spread sufficiently to prevent abuse or concentration of power in too few hands. I recommend that you read Federalist 10 (and the others) to get a better understanding of this philosophy and its importance in the Founding of the United States of America.
