A story, probably apocryphal, tells of Benjamin Franklin exiting the constitutional convention of 1787. The Federalist Papers, which is America’s version of our Constituent Assembly debates, were written by figures like Alexander Hamilton and James Madison under the pseudonym ‘Publius’, referencing a Roman who helped set up the republic. Many of America’s founding fathers were classicists who favoured Rome. In the US constitution, the word ‘democracy’ in fact does not appear, though ‘republic’ does. Socrates had total contempt for this democracy and throughout Plato’s works his refrain is: ‘In a storm, would you choose a ship’s captain by lot?’Īfter the Middle Ages, Europe was inspired by Greece in art, philosophy and science and culture, but by Rome in government. For instance, in Athens all (adult male) citizens were equal and therefore leaders and jurors were chosen by lot, meaning by turn. Athenian ‘democracy’ was actually a psephocracy. Republic and democracy don’t mean the same thing, and even democracy has many interpretations. It means a state in which leaders are chosen from among the general population, and not the aristocracy. A republican state is one in which power rests with the citizens. We are making an important claim: is it true? Our constitution opens with the words that India is both a republic and a democracy.
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