America; 2012 Republic or Democracy?

I would like to start off by saying that many people, not only Americans but people in other countries are confused at the differences in our Government names. According to who is President, as we have a choice in choosing who it will be.

We The People, do not actually "choose" the president because we are a Republic. We vote, and try to sway votes to our Electoral College, as they are the ones who we wait on to decide who we have persuaded to choose the President. (or I can say this is our belief system if you are not a conspiracy theorist.)

One thing that I find bothersome, is a few years back I knew a little girl who was learning politics in school, and when I asked her who her choice was, she named who she thought was best. I asked her, well, "do you know you have more choices than the Republican or the Democrat to vote for?" She looked at me like, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I said to her, that here in America, there are more choices of who to vote for than just two, the Republican person running or the Democratic person who was running. We also can even write in our own vote! I told her, I could write in YOUR NAME! If you were of voting age, you could write in MY NAME! She looked at me in awe, and wanted to learn more. While I said that with a smile, she really wanted to know more, by telling her I had freedom to write HER name in, made her eager to learn more!

Her father was nearby, and listened in, and later thanked me for going beyond the school's narrow mindedness and enlightening her to the possibilities that we can have more than TWO choices! I was glad to know there was a parent out there open minded enough to allow his daughter to have her mind broadened with more options than what they were given to her.

I told her, it would be nice if she raised her hand and asked her teacher to elaborate on the other choices! That would most certainly challenge the teacher as they are told not to tell this to the children, and as I looked with her though her school book NO OTHER POLITICAL PARTIES WERE LISTED! It sort of angered me as we are allowed to vote for an Independent. I explained to her that an Independent would be if someone didn't get nominated, that they could be anything from a Republican, Democrat, even a Socialist or Communist! That when she was of age, these things SHOULD STILL be listen on the ballot when she goes to vote and she would be able to choose one of those even if there was no name attached to it.

Sadly most parents don't sit down with their children and go into their options or teach them beyond what school would. Her father like it that I had brought to her attention that she should always ask questions, and it was ok to challenge her teacher to give her more information than just that tid-bit they'd gotten. Of course all the children apparently loved the little "mock election" they held at school. I expressed to her before she picked one, to learn about them, their life, their values and if she agreed with them or not. Not to just vote for the most handsome, or best dressed or any other physical feature. That it did not matter what our President looked like, as long as they held the values that SHE believed to be the best, and of course what would be the best in the NEXT election which at her age 4 years might seem a long time, but I reminded her, that it could creep up quicker as she got older! So it was best to stay informed, even when there was no election process going on at the time. (I didn't want to overwhelm her with the smaller elections, as she seemed too interested in learning about the President, not proposals, as knowing me, I would eventually get to that with her, but then was not the time.)

Yes, many adults are not quite as eager to learn or open minded to hear another candidates point of view.They have their minds set on who they are already going to vote for.

I once heard a man say, women shouldn't ever be allowed to vote because they tend to vote for the most handsome, or best dressed, and most soft spoken, as who wants a harsh sounding mean President!

I quickly recanted that to him, saying since Dad, you were the one to teach me politics at such an early age, what if I were to run for President someday, you would hope that the people would make an informed choice, and not vote for me just because I was a female, but because I was informed and gave the people the best answers I could, so I could do the best at running the country.

Although in reality, I would not want that responsibility, but if I had it, things would most certainly be different.

saw the question asked:
Is it real Democracy in the US?

The person elaborated with; In US, a very dominant population is against the factories which produce weapons! Being a democratic country, why US people are not successful in stopping the nurseries which promote terrorism and war all around the world? Is there a real democracy in US?

While I wanted to answer a more simplified answer than what was given space for, it said "Make a hub about it." So, here is the simplified answer to the person who questioned.

• First of all, there was more than one thing that needed to be addressed.

I am not in agreement that there is a dominance in factories that produce weapons.
I would much rather say, that the Democrats, have instilled into the minds of the young, (And obviously other parts of the world.) that if there are weapon factories, it is promoting violence. I do not agree with that. It is the media who tend to only show that one horrible incident that a child got a hold of a weapon (a gun per se, as a weapon could be almost anything.) and have accidentally killed or hurt someone.

In 99% of those cases, the child was not taught gun safety, nor was the child taught WHY a weapon should be in the home, and that they are most certainly NOT allowed to touch it.
RARELY, is it shown in our news, where a life was saved, a family was saved from an intruder! In fact, sadly some states still have a law that makes the intruder the good guy and the person protecting their home, the bad guy. It is called "Duty to Retreat." That means if someone breaks into a home, the owner is to get out before the intruder can get them. They are to run, and leave their belongings to the thief. Not standing at all by our Constitution. BUT it can be appealed and taken to a higher court (The Supreme Court) and fought for the right to the United States Constitution. (i.e. See movie called: People vs Larry Flint.)

(Refer to our 2nd Amendment to our Constitution. Our Right to Bear Arms.)

I moved away from the North, and now live in the South, where there are more people who own guns than people who do not. The crime rate is much lower. There also is no "Duty to Retreat" law. As a single girl alone in my home, if anyone breaks in, I do not have to try to search for a way out and run away from my home, I can protect myself and my home, as well as my belongings, and yes, and I was recently advised by my local STATE Sheriff to stand by my Constitutional right as my life has been threatened.

• Now, to answer the rest of your question,we are not a Democracy, we are a Republic. If you have not already, please scroll up and read what is on the American Flag in the first photo.

As an American I take a bit of offense to your saying: "why US people are not successful in stopping the nurseries which promote terrorism and war all around the world?

America is not the World Police, nor should America be held responsible for stopping the nurseries which promote terrorism, and war all around the world! (The person who asked this question)

-Your country is listed as Pakistan, and would you like it if our country came to yours and changed your way of life?

Made you live as we do?

Made you dress as we do?

Raise your children with our beliefs, make "Christians" out of you rather than forcing you to be Muslims?

http://www.infopak.gov.pk/structure_government.aspx

In Pakistan, they MUST be Muslim, one cannot pick and choose a faith. Because you claim to be a Democracy, and your hierarchy is broken, and when it gets to that point, your Constitution says:

• "he chairman of the Senate, under the constitution, is next in line to act as president should the office become vacantand until such time as a new president can be formally elected."

After reading my answer to why we are a Republic and not a Democracy, please refer to my chart below on the hierarchy of our election system below, until a new President can be elected into office. We leave no stone unturned.

Just because we might have a Democrat for a President now and again doesn't change our Government.
Even though they have different views on things, it does not mean they don't have to confer with each other in order to make a change.
They do. Look into "bipartisan policy" as we have both Republicans and Democrats making decisions together, but sadly we are being pushed into a Democracy, but hopefully the Republicans will rise up and try to stop the atrocity, as it's a step in the direction of other Governmental systems such as Socialism and Communism, and if they get their way, and have the One World Government that is planned, then what is that called? When ONE runs a Government? Could it be Totalitarianism or Communism? Our rights would be stripped. As we see in other countries now.

I just would like to re-word a bit and maybe make it more simple for people who do not understand the difference. When the other answer used the word "mob" it might be easier to understand "Majority Rule" which is NOT the way America runs our Government.

• BREAKING IT DOWN:

• In a FULL Democracy where majority rules, everyone in my neighborhood could take a vote and say "You cannot have blue shutters, they must be purple with yellow polka-dots." Then I would HAVE TO CHANGE IT! While certain subdivisions or communities live under that sort of rule, we have the option to live there or NOT to live there.

• In a FULL Republic, the people could say "We want you to have an all white house with NO COLORS on your shutters." I have the option to bring the people in my community/town etc. to a town meeting and stand up and state my case WHY I don't want my house to be all one color! I have the opportunity to try to convince them WHY. For an instance, I could say; When I was a child, my house was all one color and I was very sad there, and now I would like to live in a house with pretty green shutters because green makes me feel more at ease, and calm, as it matches my nice green yard, and the beautiful surrounding trees! I believe my home accents nature well, I hope that you see my point and I hope everyone would vote on my behalf to let me have green shutters because of these reasons.

• Then the town could have it's own vote and say, "She makes a valid point, and we don't want our neighbor to have bad memories, and obviously likes the feeling of being closer to nature by having a bit of color to the outside of her home that accents well with nature, we think she presented a very valid point." Then if the community/town (if it falls in a category of living here you go by our rules) they take a vote and say they like my reasoning for what I want, then I would be able to have my home as I like it. Later if I changed my mind and painted them blue, there would be no rule that said I had to change it back.

• I would not have that option in a Democracy.

Do not misunderstand, that if a community you choose to move into has rules, then you abide by their rules! Like here at hubpages, we do not post things that are against their rules, because WE do not own the servers that hold the information! They do! So they set the rules!

If I owned my own servers, and ran a website, say "1st Amendment" then "I" would be the one to set the rules, and obviously it would abide by our Constitutions Bill of Rights, 1st Amendment, and people would be allowed to run wild with their words and or photos. HOWEVER, as an owner of that website, I would still be falling under the pressure from the Government to make people have to sign in and prove that they are of age, to save children from seeing things they should not see. Which I would then gladly do, as I do think personally we should let our children BE children for as long as they possibly can, and believe they are fed too much over TV and Internet than their minds are ready to handle as it is. It is up to the owner to do so or not.

I hope that explains a bit better of why we are a Republic and not a Democracy, and why just because our current President is a Democrat, he must have to present things to Congress (which has both Democratic and Republicans; see bipartisanship) before he can make any certain changes to our Government.

If you, or anyone you know, have any questions concerning any of the things you see listed here, or that are in the table above, you can write to any one of the people and ask your question. Be assured you WILL get a response!

I know this for a fact, as my father a WWII Veteran, upon his death, I received a note of Honor signed by the President. When I wrote a thank you note for acknowledging my father, they responded to that as well with two signed Honors of my dad being in the war, along with their condolence.

The White House not only has app's for your cell phones, they will respond with any questions answering to the best of their abilities. I know, because I have written there at different times throughout my life, the most memorable of course as a child when my father first taught me how to write, where to write and making sure I always addressed our President as "Mr. President" and to remember to say, please and thank you for reading my letters.

I got back things I did not understand at a young age, but it taught me a valuable lesson. That lesson was, to stay involved, stay informed, and speak to our leaders with, not only Pride in our country, but with respect as well.
(Of course I was taught to always have respect for anyone of authority, as well as to question it.)

Here is the address and website to write to anyone on the table list with any question of your concern! If you are writing to the President then address him as such, I have listed their names and official titles so you can address them to the right person for your question or comments.

• Mr. President Obama
  1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
  Washington D.C., DC 20500

You can also visit The White House website at:

• http://www.whitehouse.gov