There
have been quite a few republics in world history going back as far as
7th century B.C. India. Republics have a lot of adjustable
parameters of course, so the name isn’t as meaningful as the form
and structure.
Plato’s
The Republic was nothing like a representational form of
government. Instead two philosopher-kings trained since birth to
serve the best interests of the people were made to rule society as
dictators. The late philosopher Bertrand Russell called Plato a
fascist. It is possible to have republics that are nothing more than
claves of oligarchs.
Republics
can be regarded as democracy with representatives overcoming the
practical problems of distance and other factors that would prevent
the majority of people from participating and voting. There is also
the problem of occupational specialization such that ordinary
citizens cannot spend the time to be well informed on every issue. In
the early United States the distance from Washington D.C. of the
states meant that all the citizens could not drop their plows off the
horse and gallop to vote every day in D.C. before returning home to
continue farming. Representative government was a practical
adaptation to the challenges facing the designers of the
constitution.
Representative
government can be co-opted so the practical function is to represent
special interests, just the rich or simply socialists in fact if not
in law. Inflationary processes can hit a Congress of Representatives
too with demographic growth driving up the cost of a campaign run at
the office.
I
wonder if the United States today has too few representatives per
capita to adequately cover constituent opinions and to pay attention
to political problems and challenges affecting the nation. Monetary
currency is increased quantitatively by the treasury and Federal
Reserve from the Bureau of Engraving when more money need be in
circulation to serve the population.
The
number of U.S. representatives probably should be tripled.
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