DEMOCRACY:
direct rule by the people. Only since the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
have the majority of political parties and groups declared their BELIEF in democracy which
was previously a very negative term connoting mob rule. In the thirteenth century AQUINAS
defined democracy as popular power where ordinary people, by force of numbers, governed
and oppressed all others thus the masses acted like a tyrant. Today democracy is usually
confused with representative government where people delegate AUTHORITY to elected
official to govern on their behalf.
