A Republic Is A Better Form Of

Government Than A Democracy Essay, Research Paper

“A Republic is a Better Form of Government than a Democracy”

I agree that a republic is a better form of government than a democracy. In order to come to this decision I had to research the definitions of each. A republic, according to Webster’s Dictionary, is a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law. By the same source, a democracy is a government in which sovereign power resides in and is exercised by the whole body of free citizens directly or indirectly through a system of representation: the majority rules.

In a democracy there is great danger for minorities. Fifty-one per-cent controls forty-nine per-cent and if unscrupulous individuals were able to control the majority, tremendous manipulative powers would be in the majority’s hands. The result would be a lack of protection of individual rights for many. The minority would only enjoy those rights and privileges chosen by the majority for them. This does not result in true freedom and liberty

for all citizens.

In a republic, the government is responsible to each individual person. The government has been created to protect the rights of each individual. The powers of the government are limited so that the people retain the maximum power themselves through a written constitution. The governing bodies serve to protect and promote the rights and privileges of all individuals, regardless of majorities or minorities. Less probability exists for individual groups to form and manipulate the body as a whole. A quote from Alexander Hamilton seems to sum up the caution needed to form a lasting and strong government: “We are now forming a republican form of government. Real liberty is not found in the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments. If we incline too much to democracy, we shall soon shoot into a monarchy or some other form of dictatorship”.