It is clear that in America the term democracy is used in reference to our form of government. However, this cannot be further from the truth. We are a REPUBLIC not a democracy.
The word democracy does not appear anywhere in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States. In fact Article IV, Section IV, of the Constitution says "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government". We do not sing the Battle Hymn of the Democracy, we sing
the Battle Hymn of the Republic and of course we pledge allegiance to the flag of "the Republic for which it stands."
All though there are similarities between democracy and republic they are not the same. Our founding fathers knew the difference and they saw a great danger in democracy and they saw it as another form of tyranny. James Madison, the father of our Constitution, said that in a pure democracy, "there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is such that democracies 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 deaths." Tom Paine considered democracy to be the vilest form of government and John Adams warned "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy that did not commit suicide." Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Marshall, observed "Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos."
Even as late as 1928, the "Citizenship" chapter of the U.S. War Department training manual TM 2000-25 expressed the opinion: Democracy... has been repeatedly tried without success. Our Constitutional fathers... made a very marked distinction between a republic and a democracy... and said repeatedly and emphatically that
they had founded a republic. The following is a list giving examples of a republic vs. democracy that was found in that same manual:
DEMOCRACY:
* A government of the masses.
* Authority derived through mass meeting or any other form of "direct" expression.
* Results in mobocracy.
* Attitude toward property is communistic- -negating property rights.
* Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate, whether is be based upon deliberation
or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences.
* Results in demagogism, license, agitation, discontent, anarchy.
REPUBLIC:
* Authority is derived through the election by the people of public officials best fitted to represent them.
* Attitude toward law is the administration of justice in accord with fixed principles and established evidence, with a strict regard to consequences.
* A greater number of citizens and extent of territory may be brought within its compass.
* Avoids the dangerous extreme of either tyranny or mobocracy.
* Results in statesmanship, liberty, reason, justice, contentment, and progress.
* Is the "standard form" of government throughout the world.
The American Republic requires strict limitation of government power and individual rights precede government and there is the rule of law. The powers that were permitted to the government would be precisely defined and delegated by the people. All public officials would be bound by their oath of office to uphold the Constitution. There is of course no doubt as to where our individual rights come from; they come from our Creator (our God given rights). Our individual rights cannot be granted nor taken away by government. If the government could
provide or take away rights, it is of course reasoned that it could only do so at the expense of someone else or with the loss of personal liberty. Our founders gave us a republic because it protects the rights of the individual against the abuses of an authoritarian majority (democracy).
In a republic, the government only intervenes in civil society to protect its citizens against force and fraud but it does not intervene in the cases of peaceable, voluntary exchange. By contrast, in a democracy, the majority rules either directly or through its elected representatives. The law is whatever the government deems it to be.
Laws aren't necessarily based upon reason but power. In other words, democracy is just another form of tyranny -- tyranny of the majority. Rights may be granted or taken away. Individuals in a republic have God Given Rights that cannot be taken away by anyone not even the majority.
So, what is a democracy? Democracy by definition literally means government by or of the people. In a democracy, the majority rules either directly, or through elected representatives or appointed officials, without the restraint embodied in a fixed body of law. The majority's power is absolute and unlimited. This opens the door to tyranny by majority (51 people out of 100 said so, so the other 49 must adhere). Laws become an instrument used by the winners against their opponents and are not based in truth and justice, but power. People vote for what they want, not for what is right. Restraint is placed upon the individual not the government. Rights become relative and soon become privileges granted through government licenses and permits. The will of one segment of society, the majority, is imposed upon everyone. Consent of the governed is meaningless, for such governments exercise their powers over anyone they choose.
Democracy concentrates power into the hands of those clever enough to manipulate the masses. It is the rule of men, the dictatorship of the majority without the regard to the consequences upon individuals or society. In a democracy the passage from the Declaration of Independence "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.…" means nothing since the majority can say you don't have the right to Liberty, etc...
So, what is a republic? Republic by definition literally means everybody's thing or interest. The Declaration Of Independence contains the principles of a republican government: that all men are created equal, unalienable rights, that governments are formed by men to secure those rights, and that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. Based upon those principles our forefathers established the one and only Supreme Law of the land the Constitution of the United States. Then the Bill of Rights was added as the first ten amendments to further restrict majority rule (democracy).
In a republic, there is rule of law. The rule of law is based upon common or scientific law. As a result, the law seeks truth, transcends politics, is reasonable, consistent, and predictable. Its purpose is to control the majority strictly as well as all others to protect the unalienable rights and liberties of the individual. Law making is a slow and deliberate process in a republic requiring approval of all three branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial). Law making in a democracy occurs rapidly and often on a whim requiring only the approval of a majority, mob rule. John Adams captured the essence of a republic when he said "Nothing in our constitution
suggests that government is a grantor of rights. Instead, government is a protector of rights." Government is decentralized through a system of checks and balances. Government does not intervene in a civil society except to protect its citizens against force or fraud. Individual freedom and responsibility are maximized. Individuals are
free to act without consent but must never impose without consent.
The people realized that the only way to get rid if tyranny was through a republican form of government and it was demanded at the time the Constitution was being written. In fact, before the Declaration of Independence came the "Instructions of the Inhabitants of Malden, Mass to their representatives in congress" on May 27, 1776.
It stated, "For these reasons, as well as many others which might be produced, we are confirmed in the opinion, that the present age will be deficient in their duty to God, their posterity and themselves, if they do not establish an American republic. This is the only form of government which we wish to see established; for we can never be
willingly subject to any other King than he who, being possessed of infinite wisdom, goodness and rectitude, is alone fit to possess unlimited power . . . if they [the Continental Congress] should declare America to be a free and independent republic, your constituents would support and defend the measure, to the last drop of
their blood, and the last farthing of their treasure." The King who is referred to is Man's Creator: God.
John Adams said "You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe."
In a republic, the government has just enough power to carry out its proper functions. No more no less. Power is decentralized, divided, and regulated. This is done of course to provide a system of checks and balances and to ensure that the mob does not rule. Laws are neutral and no one is exempt, and everyone is equal before it.
Republican government is an instrument to serve all the people not regulate them. People are represented rather than ruled.
The confusion between a republic and democracy is nothing new. James Madison, writing in The Federalist No. 14 refers to: "The error which limits republican government... seems to owe its rise and prevalence chiefly to the confounding of a republic with a democracy, applying to the former reasoning’s drawn from the nature of the latter."
The widespread use of the term democracy appears to have begun with the Woodrow Wilson administration in 1912. Of course it was during his administration that the 16th and 17th amendments were passed (which are anti-republican in nature) and the Federal Reserve was established. All three acts began to centralize power.
We must all begin to differentiate between a republic and a democracy. We are a republic not a democracy. Please do your own research and correct anyone who misuses the word democracy to describe our form of government. And remember what it says in the Declaration Of Independence “that all Men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness-That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive to these Ends, it is the Right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Your Friend In Freedom,
Graham Nash
www.5flagsgroup.com
