[WikiEN-l] Re: Queen Elizabeth II

Thu Mar 10 02:39:22 UTC 2005

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> Sorry... I'm totally confused. We have a constitution, we elect our 
> government (the populace elects them), in fact we MUST elect our 
> government as this is compulsory and we have equality before the law and 
> due process under the rule of law! So in what way are we *not* a democracy? 
> 
> Is there some weird American definition of democracy I'm not aware of? 
> May I suggest looking at 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy#.22Democracy.22_versus_.22republic.22 
> and if necessary update it? 

Sorry, I was under the impression that you did not consider Austrailia a republic, and that republic meant "democracy" in Austrailian english.  It was the discussions on [[Austrailia]] and the far more substantial article on [[republicanism]] that gave me this impression.  The short blurb you point to on in the Democracy article, says the head of state must be elected.  This appears at odds with the republicanism article which states only that he must serve a limited term, but also talks about many other issues, including the sovereignty lying with the people.

Now I have heard people argue that a representative democracy is not a democracy, but I don't take that position.

                        -- Silverback