WHAT IS THE
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Today, we are constantly bombarded with
references to our sacred "democracy." I have seen and heard it time
and again! In the news, on TV, from our elected
representatives. The problem, of course, is that our country is not a
democracy. Our nation was founded as a Constitutionally
limited Republic! Not to long in the past, everyone knew this, including all
grammar school children. Remember the words from the Pledge of Allegiance:
"and to the Republic for which it stands"...? Our Founding Fathers
were concerned with
In fact, the Constitution is replete
with undemocratic mechanisms. The First Amendment, for example, is utterly
undemocratic. It was designed to protect unpopular speech against democratic
fervor. Would the same elected representatives so enamored with democracy be
willing to give up freedom of speech if the majority chose to do so? Next, take
a look at the electoral college. This is as far from
democracy as on can get! Small states are represented in national elections
with greater electoral power than their populations would warrant in a purely
democratic system. A sparsely populated state such as
The Founders instituted a Constitutionally limited Republican system in order to
protect individual rights and property rights from tyranny, regardless of
whether the tyrant was king, monarchy, congress, or an unelected
mob. They believed that a representative government, restrained by the Bill of
Rights and divided into three power sharing branches, would balance the
competing interests of the population. They also knew that unbridled democracy
would lead to the same kind of tyranny suffered by the colonies under King
George. In other words, the Founders had no illusions about democracy.
Democracy represented unlimited rule by an omnipotent majority, while a Constitutionally limited Republic was seen as the best
system to preserve liberty. The Founders knew that our Unalienable Rights and
Individual Liberties, as enshrined in the Bill of Rights, would be threatened
by the "excesses of democracy."
The Founders clearly understood the
dangers of a democracy. At the close of the Constitutional Conventional in
1787, Benjamin Franklin told an inquisitive citizen that the delegates to the
Constitutional Convention gave the people “a Republic, if you can keep
it.” James Madison, the father of the Constitution, could not have been
more explicit in his fear and concern for democracies. “Democracies,”
he said, “have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have
ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property;
and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in
their death.” Edmund Randolph of
The emphasis on democracy in our modern
political discourse has no historical or Constitutional basis. The transition
from republic to democracy was gradual, mostly occurring in the later half of
the 20th century. Concerns about war and economic downturns (Events caused by
an intrusive government’s failure to follow the binding restraints of the
Constitution) allowed majority demands to supercede the rights of the minority.
By the end of the 20th century, majority opinion had become the determining
factor in all that government does. The rule of law was cast aside, leaving the
Constitution a shell of what it once was; a Constitution with rules that
guaranteed a Republic with limited federal powers, emphasis on regional (state
or county) government, and Protection of Unalienable Rights and Personal Liberty.
Our economy, private property ownership, and sound money were severely
undermined with the acceptance of the principles of a true democracy. Unless we
demand that our elected representatives return us to the
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