"We are a republic if, you can keep it---Ben Franklin.

Excelent video. In my opinion I think the US is a Republic rather than a representative democracy because its laws are focus on protecting the individual rights rather than the majority.

I know I'm repeating many others before me here, but it must be said. Thank you for basic, straightforward educational materials without bias or agenda (other than education 🙂). Its nearly impossible to find this these days, and I REALLY respect your efforts and content!

"The ideal of a constitutional republic is individual liberty. In this century, great strides have been made toward the goal of subverting our republic and transforming it into a democracy. The foremost tactic of the subverters is the subversion of “language” - by calling America a democracy, until people thoughtlessly accept the term and use the term. Totalitarians have obscured the real meanings and principles of the American government.” Dan Smoot.

America was founded on the principles of a Constitutional Republic which protects the individual from their representatives and mob rule. Our founders assumed that men would be virtuous and honor the Constitution. Lacking any enforcement mechanisms allows unscrupulous politicians to circumvent and violate the peoples contract which is what we have today. Simply put, a democracy is universal equality and a republic is individual liberty.

🗝 Straightforward explanation, that ALL should be able to understand in a few minutes! 👍🏼

Dan Smoots take on this is highly recomended for viewing or listening to. He goes 1 step further and points out that the US system is a Constitutional Republic while explaining the dangers of a true democracy.

Who knew there were so many constitutional scholars and experts on government in the comment section? This was a good video explanation and I use it to help explain the difference to my students. Well done.

You draw the Constitution very well.

I like the fact that you are giving examples on each system. Keep going!

We are a constitutional republic

God bless the republic 🇺🇸

It was well done indeed. I never cease to be amazed by how many folks don’t know the difference. Cheers!

And to the republic for which it stands

Thank you for the simplistic unbiased explanation of so many misunderstood topics

ACTUALLY... the US is a constitutional republic.

I was just thinking about this.....now I am getting a unbiased explanation

Pretty sure they knew what they were saying when they said republic.

Excellent breakdown of the differences! One thing to add is republics also allow the isolation of certain public things that can harm the public at large if left unrestricted. In America's case, we took the Monarchy (Executive branch), Parliament (Legislative Branch), and East-India Trading Company (Corporations) and isolated them together; so all Constitutionally created things, such as the United States (Washington D.C) and its Laws that pass will not effect the Freedom(s) that Americans have by Right. Thus, limiting and restricting the Republic's power to only Persons (Titles or Corporations) they create, and all who bear those Persons.

Your instructional materials are well crafted. Thank you.

Republic ! Republic ! Republic !

Thanks for the great info video, just subscribed 😀 and going to check the rest of your stuff, thank you very much 😊

The Framers, and Founders most certainly did not use "republic" and "democracy" interchangeably. In Article IV Section 4 of the US Constitution it states, "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,". The Framers and Founders were fearful of democracies. They knew exactly what they were. " Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.” James Madison Federalist 10 and 51. Also, the Founding Fathers and Framers studied history. From Ancient Greece with Plato's Republic, Aristotle, Polybius, and more. They knew full well the meaning of a democracy or a republic. Each member of the House is elected by popular vote in their respective congressional districts, but Americans don't get to vote on federal laws. Not a democracy. Originally members of the US Senate were appointed by their respective state legislatures. Not a democracy. The President of the United States is not elected by popular vote but by the Electoral College. Meaning when you vote you aren't voting for the president you're voting for the electors of the party of the president in your state that have vowed to vote for the candidate of that party. Not a democracy. If people knew more about the differences, and histories between democracies, and republics, especially the Republic of these United States they wouldn't carelessly, and unthinkingly throw about the word democracy and attempt to claim that the United States of America is one> It was never meant to be one, or should be made one. Democracies always without fail degenerate into tyrannies, and dictatorships and everyone suffers. Lastly, not once will you find the word Democracy, democracy, or democratic in the Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress October 14th, 1774, The Articles of Association October 20th, 1774, The Declaration of Independence July 4th, 1776, The Articles of Confederation November 15th, 1777, The US Constitution September 17th, 1787, The Bill of Rights December 15th, 1791. But in your infinite wisdom and knowledge of politics, history, and law know more than they that created this nation, and you know more about what they thought, wrote, and spoke than they themselves. Try again.

Don't let this guy, whoever he is, tell you any different, America is a Republic.

Good video. You have some crazy Sharpie skills

Loved this. Simple, straight forward, and short. Learned more now rhen i did in HS. Lol sounds funny but seriously what a great video.

New subscriber thanks for these endeavors

This is a nice simple approach to understanding concepts that shift as all definitions of word do. I do feel that the role of the individual voter , which is not required in a republic, deserves to be noted as a critical and essential foundation of United States democracy. "Government of, by and for the People "requires ongoing direct input by the citizenry in addition to electing representatives to act on our behalf. A functioning democracy is designed to protect the majority from minority rule.

Thank you for making this concept simple ❤

The USA is strictly a republic, no? People vote for representatives, constitution, and minority is protected from majority are all republic things

Well done.......thanks.

We have always been a republic, but we do have many democratic tendencies.

2:30 I call bs because no where in the founding documents was the term democracy used.

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

A republic protects us from democracy.

Those of us who can read the Constitution and understand it vote for what is right. The fundamental flaws of Democracy have been known for over 2000 years to those who have studied history.

The constitution says we are a republic. End of video.....?

Very well done sir thank you for teaching the truth 😊

Most often a democracy is just a type of republic, but a republic is not necessarily a type of democracy. Venice and early American times were essentially aristocratic republics, and the process of developing mass democracy has only made things worse and has only made the regime more powerful, because people have been stup1d enough to believe that casting a ballot gives them any real choice, or can somehow hold people accountable while you give them special powers to do things that nobody else has the right to do, while people are muddied so much in their thought process to actually believe that they somehow consented to tyrannical acts by the regime in any meaningful way. Of course it’s even worse than that because most real power in practice is held by unelected even less accountable bureaucrats, bankers, and corporations while being able to grift off of the illusion of choice through elections

3:37 just learned this, Judicial Review is not a constitutionally mandated thing or even named in the constitution. Judicial Review comes from the Case of Marbury V Madison

On your next video, please, make the background music louder because I couldn't hear it on this one...

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.

Democracy is not mentioned once in constitution or bill of rights that's the difference

We are a constitutional republic with democratic processes

Okay should have went into more detail about the minority having as much rights as the majority with examples? Which would be easy comparing states with less population to the ones with more! Actually there’s more examples but that’s usually an easy one to explain! Warm Regards and God Bless Y’all

I just want to point out that constitution does not grant power to overturn laws which is called Judicial Review SCOTUS granted themselves that doctrine in the 1803 case Marbury v. Madison

The republic definition you use is with a constitution attached, and could, in many ways, be considered a representative democracy, as democracy mostly involves the rule of the people in some way, shape, or form.

Who decides those rules that protect the minorities from the majority in a republic?

For the Republic!

You should make a video on the Democratic Republic of Congo

This matches what I was taught in high-school, although it misses out on some important details, such as the fact that as few of 15% of Athenians were citizens, the rest being slaves and other classes of people.

Very nice but kratos doesn't mean rule it means "state" wich means a state by the people

Yea but we are currently an Oligarchy, because the 2 sides still cant figure out whats more important

Wow

Which is the best form of government in the world 🤔

#democracy #illustrated

What if the majority in a democracy want something that isn’t right , morally or ethically? Then what ?

So a republic is a democracy ruled by a set of accepted rules…

President Woodrow Wilson, a college professor and president, gov of New Jersey, repeatedly said the entry of the US to fight in WWI was to, “Keep the World Safe for Democracy.”

Excellent video - Seems like we just need a 'Chartered Democracy' then. Whereby people can make decisions for themselves instead of [lobby bought] Representatives. But there is a Constitution in place to ensure no laws that harm a certain minority group can ever be passed - Human Rights basically. ?

Personally what I get from this is that a republic uses many aspects of democracy but has more representation for under represented groups. One thing I notice however is that the democracy and republic have both the capacity to be good or bad depending on the context. A minority group could have massive advantages over other groups like wealth and power despite being a minority by numbers. But the voting majority could completely stall and even deflect meaningful and objectively good policy change at the same time due to bias.

I'm confused is the Democratic back in the old days was the United Government and the Republic was the States?

This is why America kicks ass

Time to go back to being a Republic.

Yeah, still don’t get it. What I gathered is a republic is a democracy that has a constitution

We're a federal constitutional representative democracy AND a federal constitutional republic. Constitutional: Our system of government is considered constitutional, because the power exercised by the people and their representatives is bound by the constitution and the broader rule of law. Federal: Our government is also a federal system, since power is shared between a national government, representing the entire populace, and regional and local governments. We exercise our political power in a different way: by voting in elections to choose our representatives. That’s representative democracy. The Constitution does not use the term “democracy.” It’s true. But John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Noah Webster, Justice James Wilson and Chief Justice John Marshall all used the word. These scholars understood representative democracy - the American variety - to be democracy all the same. John Adams referred to the US as a representative democracy in 1794 in "The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, volume 6" on page 19. "No determinations are carried, it is true, in a simple or representative democracy, but by consent of the majority of the people or their representatives." Thomas Jefferson referred to the US as a representative democracy in his "Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies" in Letter CXXIL to Mr. Wendover on March 13th, 1815: "I consider the war, with him, as 'made on good advice,' inasmuch, as it as exercised our patriotism and submission to order, has planted and invigorated among us arts of urgent necessity, has manifested the strong and the weak parts of our republican institutions, and the excellence of a representative democracy, compared with the misrule of Kings, has rallied the opinions of mankind to the natural rights of expatriations, and of a common property in the ocean, and raised us to that grace in the scale of nations which the bravery and liberality of our citizen soldiers, by land and by sea, the wisdom of our institutions and their observance of justice, entitled us in the eyes to in the eyes of the world." In addition, Noah Webster in 1785, and St. George Tucker in 1803 edition of Blackstone referred to the US as a representative democracy, and James Wilson, one of the main drafters of the Constitution and one of the first Supreme Court Justices, defended the Constitution in 1787 by referring to the 3 forms of government as "monarchical, aristocratical, and democratical." He states: "Of what description is the Constitution before us? In its principles, it is purely democratical: varying indeed in its form in order to admit all the advantages, and to exclude all the disadvantages which are incidental to the known and established constitutions of government. But when we take an extensive and accurate view of the streams of power that appear through this great and comprehensive plan … we shall be able to trace them to one great and noble source, THE PEOPLE…." Sir William Blackstone, who was much read and admired by the framers, likewise used "democracy" to include republics: "Baron Montesquieu lays it down, that luxury is necessary in monarchies, as in France; but ruinous to democracies, as in Holland. With regard therefore to England, whose government is compounded of both species, it may still be a dubious question, how far private luxury is a public evil …." Holland was of course a republic, and England was compounded of monarchy and government by elected representatives; Blackstone was thus labeling such government by elected representatives as a form of "democrac[y]." Chief Justice John Marshall defended the Constitution in the convention by describing it as implementing "democracy" (as opposed to "despotism"): "I conceive that the object of the discussion now before us is whether democracy or despotism be most eligible. I am sure that those who framed the system submitted to our investigation, and those who now support it, intend the establishment and security of the former. The supporters of the Constitution claim the title of being firm friends of the liberty and the rights of mankind. They say that they consider it as the best means of protecting liberty. We, sir, idolize democracy. Those who oppose it have bestowed eulogiums on monarchy. We prefer this system to any monarchy because we are convinced that it has a greater tendency to secure our liberty and promote our happiness. We admire it because we think it a well-regulated democracy: it is recommended to the good people of this country: they are, through us, to declare whether it be such a plan of government as will establish and secure their freedom." So why does the word democracy not appear in the US constitution, Federalist Papers, etc.? It's because the framers couldn't put both democracy and republic in the same sentence to describe the nation. They needed a word that defined the US states coming together to form a nation. A republic was better described the autonomous nature of each state coming together. However, democracy is the lifeblood of the American Republic and the fact that the word democracy doesn't appear in the constitution or the Federalist Papers doesn't negate the words of the framers as noted above. We have to push back against the claim that we're not a democracy because it has sinister motives. What these people really want is an autocratic nation run by a demagogue.

What's in a name? That which you call a rose, by any other name, smells just as sweet. -some british fella

0:21 Kratos!!!!

Why is it that people insist on calling it a democracy when it is not.

The U.S. IS a Constitutional Republic. Each State IS a Democracy.

Basically Democracy is the dictatorship of the mayority and Republic is the representation of the mayority and minorities in a context of laws.

You said, "Democracy requires that the people be allowed to take part in the government and its political processes." People should be allowed and many don't. You also said, "All citizens who are eligible to vote take an equal part in directly making laws that govern them." Were all citizens not eligible? Were there requirements to be allowed to vote? Once upon a time only landowners, paying taxes were allowed to vote.

I'm a South African though I kinda agree with democracy

Were both!Jeez!!

The problem with democracy is…if one group of people take over the current ruling group…they rule and use their system. And so on and so forth and on and on. With a representative republic….or ours is a constitutional republic…we select or representatives. Plus we have a constitution that can not be changed on a whim…but requires 3/4 of the states.

In a Democracy, if the majority wants my bicycle, they can and will take it. Period.

We live in a republic.

a Republic is a type of Democracy. Saying "what is the difference between a Republic and a Democracy" is like asking, "What is the difference between the Earth and planets". The Earth IS a planet.

I think electoral college fits the constitution Republic, that some Academics and politicians want to get rid off, by giving power to popular vote ( where majority rules and ignores minorities).

I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag, of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One Nation, Under God, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All.

Why does it seem like the majority (99%) is being played pretty badly by the minority (1%)?

You did fine till 2:35 when you went off the rails. Also, though many of the representatives at the convention were as ignorant about the form of government being proposed as you appear to be, the leadership, Madison, Franklin, Jefferson (in France but still involved) knew exactly what they were about. We have a representative REPUBLIC. ALL of the founding Fathers deeply distrusted a democracy. Additionally, all the previous democratic experiments had failed miserably! Madison,et al, didn't want to repeat that mistake. Much of what inspired the Declaration Of Independence and the Constitution was greatly influenced by the writings of Thomas Payne and Francis Bacon. When asked what kind of government had been established, Benjamin Franklin replied, "A Republic, Madam, if you can keep it!" Many of our states are making serious errors by turning their governments into Democracies. California is a good example of this type of mob rule. It's a disaster, and the state is coming apart at the seams as a result.

So it sounds like we have a Republican because we have representatives and the constitution we follow or should. But the narrator says we have both. ???

So... Republic is a representative democracy?

We are a Constitutional Republic. Ruled by the Constitution which limits govt. Democracy and Republic are competing political ideologies Representative democracy is a worse idea than a democracy. It’s easier to persuade 151 of 300 elected representatives to support legislation that is not in the public’s interest, than it is to get 165 million voters to support legislation that is not in the interest of the general public Just because we elect representatives doesn’t magically transform America into a democracy

We have a constitutional federal republic. Republic is the right of the people to vote for representation as a majority. It is also the right of the people to be left alone and be a anarchist as was the articles of confederation. Constitution honors that in Article 6, clause 1. The very reason most American are not free note using their constitutional right to create the government one likes best

We're a republic and democracy but NOT a monarchy. We rule by the people who elect rep. Who vote for them. They have ability to vote them out. Taking that away makes us a dictatorship. We can't go that route where only one man makes our decisions for us!

In a republic, property owners decide what the public can decide.

Did I understand right, that he said the U.S. is a "Representational Democracy"? So, how is that different from a Constitutional Republic?

Govern, NOT rule! There IS a difference.

Ya what about today

I love Republicanism it's my favorite political government, Blessed Be.

The US is both . Republican in the sense tht the chief executive is not hereditary. And democratic in the sense that most public officials who make important policy and pass laws, are popularly elected.

United States is a constitutional republic. A republic is based on only electing representatives to represent the people. But a constitutional republic limits the powers of those representatives in order to protect the rights and liberty of the people.

Out with Democracy just as our forefathers intended. Back to being a Republic.

Is the United States a democracy? Yes, the United States is a democracy, since we, the people, hold the ultimate political power. We’re not a “direct democracy,” but we are a “representative democracy.” This is where our history education might add some confusion. We are commonly taught that democracy is a product of ancient Greece. It’s their word - demokratia - after all. The city-state of Athens is credited with implementing a system of government of and by the people, whereby eligible citizens would congregate to make decisions. They’d make these decisions themselves (or “directly”), not through any elected representatives. That system of government, better understood today as direct democracy, lives on in the United States in the form of ballot initiatives and referenda. Some states and localities afford their citizens the right to use these measures to directly enact, change, or repeal laws themselves. More commonly, we exercise our political power in a different way: by voting in elections to choose our representatives. That’s representative democracy. The Constitution does not use the term “democracy.” It’s true. But as Eugene Volokh notes in the Washington Post, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Noah Webster, Justice James Wilson and Chief Justice John Marshall all used the word. These scholars understood representative democracy - the American variety - to be democracy all the same. Is the United States a republic? Yes. The United States is a republic because our elected representatives exercise political power. History also tells us that Rome was a republic, unlike Athens. When its monarchy was overthrown, Rome developed a republican system of government whereby citizens elected officials who were empowered to make decisions for the public. That’s the core of how our government works. While “democracy” and “republic” have been historically pitted against one another, the reality is that the two terms enjoy considerable overlap. So, which term should I use? It’s really up to you. In practice, the word “republic” has the same meaning as the term “representative democracy.” And a representative democracy is a form of democracy in the same way that a Granny Smith apple is a form of apple. We wouldn’t say it’s inaccurate to use “apple” to describe a Granny Smith apple, so it’s OK to follow in the footsteps of Jefferson, Adams, Webster, and Chief Justice Marshall and simply call our “representative democracy” a “democracy.” But it’s also accurate to call the United States a “republic.” It’s mostly about your preference of words. Hopefully, this post will help lower the heat in the online debate. Let’s put our energy toward working to fix our government so it represents the people! What type of government is the US, exactly? To be very specific, the United States could be defined as a “federal constitutional representative democracy.” You might also call it a “federal constitutional republic.” Let’s break those terms down. Constitutional: Our system of government is considered constitutional, because the power exercised by the people and their representatives is bound by the constitution and the broader rule of law. Federal: Our government is also a federal system, since power is shared between a national government, representing the entire populace, and regional and local governments. These two terms can come in handy when you want to get really exact with your description. It’s accurate to call our government a “federal constitutional republic” or a “federal constitutional democracy,” but it’s probably overkill to be that specific. These terms just help us further define our governmental structure, especially when comparing the United States to other countries. Bonus: Is the United States still a democracy/republic? In the literal sense of the word, yes. In practice, the answer is more complicated. In 2016, The Economist Intelligence Unit downgraded the United States from a “full democracy” to a “flawed democracy” in its Democracy Report, an annual study of the “state of democracy” around the world. There were a number of reasons the nation’s rating fell, but one of the most important was the American public’s declining trust in government. Our system of government depends on citizens being able to freely elect leaders who will represent their interests. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen. In a study published 2014, two political scientists found that, on average, the policies representatives pursue are not in fact dictated by public opinion. This is the mark of a flawed democracy/republic: election without true representation. In 2021, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) classified the United States as a "backsliding democracy" for the first time. So, is the United States a democracy or a republic?

Waiiit a minute! You are telling me there's no true democracy with your definition of it? Hmm, interesting!...lemme continue with the video

“Is the US a republic or a democracy?” It is neither. It is an aristocratic oligarchy where a minority of wealthy people rule. To answer the question, is it a democracy or a republic, it is necessary to first determine who rules. If your answer was “the people rule” this is incorrect. The people do not rule in either a republic or a democracy. For that you would need to be a sortition. Only with universal suffrage and sortition will the government be a proportional, representative democracy.

A few statements in the video can be taken out of context pretty easily to become misinformation or disinformation; otherwise, if the viewer listens very carefully to the entire video, it's not too bad. That said, as to the US form of government, let me state the following: On Independence Day, 1861, nearly 3 months into the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln gave a message to Congress, wherein he said: “[Referring to the Civil War] It presents to the whole family of man the question whether a constitutional republic, or democracy--a government of the people by the same people--can or can not maintain its territorial integrity against its own domestic foes." There it is, no less than our greatest President, who knew the Constitution far better than 100 of you and me, and far better than anyone on our national scene today, equating democracy and constitutional republic. And rightly he did, as democracy, according to our government today, means "a form of government in which the supreme power [sovereignty] is retained by the people, but which is usually exercised indirectly through a system of representation and delegated authority periodically renewed." Interesting how that definition perfectly describes our form of government. Again, take it from Lincoln, who described our form of government more ably and memorably than anyone in our history, when he concluded his Gettysburg Address with his words, “... that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." What Lincoln there described is democracy, the form of government where the people are the supreme authority, the sovereign. From its beginning, “[W]e the people …,” through its end, our Constitution makes manifest that we, the people, are sovereign. It follows naturally that the word “democracy” derives from the Greek word “demos,” meaning “people.”

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." say it again AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS...........What part of that d o people NOT understand. 1892