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| Just an FYI. Maybe what you write is not what you mean, but most countries are not a Democracy. France is not a Democracy. It is a Republic which is consistent with most governments in the world, other than most of the Middle East, China, etc. There is a big difference between a Republic and a Democracy. | |
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The elections were held under democratic procedures, which was my main point. I was objecting to the statement that the election in France was not democratic -- i.e. did not express the will of the majority of the French people. The NZZ reported today that Sarkozy received the largest majority of any center-right politician in France in the last 40 years (de Gaulle's 1965 election).
A republican system of government can still be liberal and democratic. All "republic" really means is that there is no ruling sovereign a la Queen Elizabeth II. This was extremely important in terms of both the United States (King George III) and France (Louis XVI, etc. later on after the re-establishment of the monarchy and its next overthrow).
The United States is not a direct democracy, but a representative democracy. It is a liberal democracy nonetheless.
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| BTW, the reason the US President is not elected by the voting population of the people is to prevent too much control from areas which are highly populated. The North East, West along with Texas, and Florida contain the majority of the pupulation in the US. Without the electorate those locales would have full decision power of who becomes President. To give the remaining population and states some power to influence the election of a President the electorate was established. Thus, it's highly possible that the overpopulated areas desire to have a specific President, but based how the overall vote was broken down by state a different individual might win an election. Generally speaking this would only happen in a VERY VERY VERY close race. | |
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The population has shifted over time, so the system was not set up to reach this end. The "founding fathers" were not necessarily democrats (the Senate before 17th Amendment, the Electoral College, and voting rights) -- the system democratized itself over time.
There are positions for and against the electoral college as it exists today -- I personally believe that it should either be reformed or eliminated.