Quote from: compro01 on September 30, 2011, 09:38:20 PM

Quote from: SgtSpike on September 30, 2011, 09:12:47 PM

I never understood why the conservative party names themselves the Republicans, whereas the liberal party names themselves the Democrats. Yet, the US is a Republic, not a Democracy. Ironic...

It's an political artifact from the 1800s.

They were originally one party, the Democratic Republican party, founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in 1792, in opposition to the Federalist party led by Alexander Hamilton.

They split up in the 1820s into the Jackson Men (led by Andrew Jackson, which became the Democratic party in 1844) and the National Republican party (Led by Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams, which was absorbed by the Whig party in 1832 after Clay was defeated in the presidential election, which then became the modern Republican party in 1854).

Interesting, thanks for the history. Didn't know much about that.

Quote from: onesalt on October 01, 2011, 12:44:58 AM

DEMOCRACY IS BAD BUT I REFUSE TO OFFER UP AN ALTERNATIVE SYSTEM WHICH WOULD BE FAIRER - Every single poster on this forum, to be perfectly honest

I don't think you want a system to be completely, 100% fair. But I'll have to think about that... sometimes, the best thing for society isn't what is fair.

Regardless, a republic is the best system a government can use. A true democracy would allow media to control the government - they could sway the people however they wanted just by publicizing garbage.