Wednesday, December 31, 2003

I found it!
If you've been reading my blog, you've probably caught my references to what I have said were the original meanings of the terms Democratic and Republic. There are two types of Republics, Aristocratic (elections) and Democratic (lottery). I finally found a reference that refers to this (I'm waiting to find a translator for some French and Italian for more...). From kid's education on New York state
The first government of New York State grew out of the Revolution. The State Convention that drew up the Constitution created a Council of Safety which governed for a time and set the new government in motion. In June 1777, while the war was going on, an election for the first governor took place. Two of the candidates, Philip Schuyler and George Clinton, were generals in the field. Two others, Colonel John Jay and General John Morin Scott, were respectively leaders of the aristocratic and democratic groups in the Convention.
Nope, doesn't say whether the Dems supported public office by lot, public referendums, or universal membership in the lower House. On all tax bills, the entire adult population of Switzerland forms a body of Congress, and as progressive as that sounds, they are often considered quite conservative, when one notes that women got full voting rights in the entire Confederacy only in 2000.

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