"It is odd how people forget we live in a democracy"
FYI: USA is not a democracy it is a REPUBLIC.
A Republic is representative government ruled by law (the United States Constitution). A Democracy is government ruled by the majority (mob rule).
That actually is incorrect as well. The words
democracy and
republic have broad definitions that many sources like the American Heritage Dictionary can be read to fit both models employed by our government. There's a bit of semantics folded into their definition as it relates to the voice of the people and how it is channeled through elected representatives to effect our law-making desires. You could say we live in a democratic republic and that too would be correct.
James Wilson, one of the framers of the Constitution and one of our first SC justices, defended our
democracy as expressed by the Constitution by saying the people have sovereign power by virtue of their elected officials and the laws they create.
Or, you could site a study done by Princeton's Martin Gillens and Northwestern's Ben Page, who made a very clear case for our system of government that very clearly fits within the constructs of an Oligarchy with heavy influences from the "Elite" via "Biased Pluralism."
Why does this matter? Because understanding how we fit into our political system permits our ability to make effective changes. In this case, relative to our individual desires to address gun issues.
And HOORAY for my two years as a Poli-Sci major!
