Posted on 02/22/2018 8:09:29 PM PST by huckfillary
I've had it with pundits, politicians, and people who should know better that continuously refer to our country as a democracy. The latest such reference was by renowned political commentator Thomas Friedman, who has never been confused with an intelligent person. But he has lots of company among the chattering classes, and even more so from among our so-called educators. At every educational level, teachers, professors, administrators, and even the elite collegiate Boards-of-Directors erroneously refer to the United States as a democracy and, in general, display an overall ignorance of American history and its Founding principles. And unfortunately, our youth (and their parent-underwriters) are the unwitting victims of this ignorance. At one time, our educators and learned elders passed on their wisdom to an eagerly receptive youth with critical thinking skills. Now, our elders can be confidently relied upon to confer their collective stupidity on a submissive, blindly receptive youth.
Repeat after me---the United States is not a democracy. It is a constitutional republic. The Founders, to a man, loathed and feared democracy. This is clearly supported by this selection of excerpts which illustrate why the Founders struggled mightily to forge a Republic rather than a democracy:
James Madison, Federalist Paper No. 10:
In a pure democracy, "there is nothing to check the inducement to sacrifice the weaker party or the obnoxious individual."
At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Edmund Randolph said, "... that in tracing these evils to their origin every man had found it in the turbulence and follies of democracy."
John Adams said, "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."
Chief Justice John Marshall observed,
"Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos.
In Federalist Paper #10, James Madison gave a comprehensive dissertation on how a Republic would guard against such losses of freedom, in an effort to get our proposed Constitution ratified by the people and their states.
The following are excerpts from Madison's Federalist #10:
... When a majority is included in the faction, the form of popular government ... enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens. ...
... Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security and the rights of property, and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. ...
A republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect, and promises the cure for which we are seeking.
Unlike today's benighted political hacks, the Founders were deeply immersed in ancient history and the Classics. And they could read the Classics and comment about them fluently in the languages in which the texts were originally written. Latin and Greek were required courses of study in nearly every one-room schoolhouse in nearly every village and hamlet.
I was fortunate to have acquired an early 1700's middle school reader. Today's Millennials would wilt and break out in hives if they had to master the material in this reader. For example, say, schoolmaster to student: "Mr. Penopscot, please stand and recite the declension of the infinitive "to be" in both Latin and Greek. Any mistakes will result in your being responsible for cleaning the common outdoor latrine for a month." The Founding generation knew instinctively that independence and liberty could not be secured and maintained without a clear understanding of these principles.
At one time, nearly every student knew the differences between a democracy v. republic, dependence v. independence, God's Law, natural law, and common law. Today's youth (and most adults) are woefully ignorant in the basics of America's Founding, and the principles underlying the Founding and the Constitution. It's beyond sad---it's downright scary. The Republic can not survive such ignorance.
More than anything, I would really like to see President Trump and Education Secretary DeVos, using every tool at their disposal, rigorously encourage revolutionary curricular changes in our public schools and stop the corruption of our children's minds with cultural marxism. I would like to see the elimination of Common Core, the replacement of one-sided indoctrination with reason and critical thinking skills, and the wholehearted, nationwide restoration and support of our rights of Free Speech at every level of education, public and private.
The president and secretary should require every institution receiving so much as a dime of federal funding to be fully committed to honoring our rights of Free Speech, welcoming and ensuring the safety of those on campuses whose views are at variance with the prevailing campus ideology, and encouraging the open exchange and debate of ideas across the ideological spectrum. If you don't like someone on TV, you don't smash the TV, you change the channel. Similarly, if you don't agree with the views of a speaker on campus, you don't silence the speaker, you just respectfully stay home.
Whatever happened to the priceless maxim of Evelyn Beatrice Hall:
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.
It would be easier to put a camel through the eye of a needle than to find a university professor who stands shoulder to shoulder with Evelyn Beatrice Hall.
Constitutional republic or constitutional democracy. Whatever you choose to call it, our form of government is the greatest on the planet.
Everyone should read the following for new, fresh insight that is an easy, quick read. It will probably surprise you.
Is The Second Amendment Worth Dying For?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3633354/posts
It’s a pet peeve of mine, too. I refer to the pince-nez pedants who lie in wait for the US to be called a democracy so they can bedazzle bystanders with their superior patriotism. It’s irritating.
And even those who should know better like the FoxNews commentators follow suit. It’s one thing for Rachel Madcow to say it, but Hannity and Carlson ?
“Repeat after me-—the United States is not a democracy. It is a constitutional republic. The Founders, to a man, loathed and feared democracy. “
We were, sigh. Now we’re a banana republic thanks to those that call themselves democrats.
If it’s accuracy we’re after, I’d say that around the time George Bush’s administration rammed Raisch v Gonzales through the Supreme Court, the last barriers between the federal government and the states came down. We are no longer a republic with a federal government of enumerated powers, but a nation-state.
Think of the US as going from a compartmented dirigible to a large gas bag, or blimp. I think the Civil War made it inevitable.
When the Courts and the Politicians have no respect for the Constitution, the Document they Swear an Oath to Defend and Protect, the Republic is doomed.
I hate it when people call left-wingers liberals.
I was genuinely shocked the first time I had occasion to know what leftists think of the Constitution. To them, it is just a piece of paper written by some dead guys long ago. We can throw constitutionality at them all day long to no effect. They don’t care.
When pressed on the eternal truths, their response is, “This time it’s different.”
Go back and listen to then State Senator Obama (I believe) saying the Founders got it wrong and that the Constitution should consist of “Negative†Rights.
He says the Constitution should list what the Government can “do” for it’s Citizens. In Liberal gibberish it actually means a list of what the Government can do “to” it’s Citizen’s.
You know, like Disarm them.
I very much appreciate all of your feedback and having taken the time to read my thoughts. A/D
Nicely done.
Ping.
Certainly.
BTW - I do wish I had taken your Screen Name first. LOL
The fact of the matter is, most people on this Country have no idea of what FREEDOM is or means and the responsibility and sacrifice necessary to pass it on the future Generations.
Look at these Kids protesting the NRA and pushing Gun Control. They have no problem thinking that Gun Confiscation is the answer to everything, when it actually will lead to the end of everything.
It’s funny how the left worships JFK, but if you remind them of “Ask not what your country can do for you,” they get all frothy at the mouth.
I know we were founded as a constitutional republic but which model were we exactly following? What did the founders say?
They are using the term in the generic sense. The government is selected by the people is some form. All those people you are getting outraged at know very well how the government works. They are not wrong to use the term "democracy". Your outrage is misplaced.
The structure of our government is republican and the process of our government is as a representative democracy. The United States even has elements of pure democracy, the New England town meeting and the 26 states that have initiative and referendum where the people can pass laws without politicians.
“Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…” Sir Winston Churchill
https://richardlangworth.com/worst-form-of-government
“Democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.”—Ronald Reagan
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/ronald_reagan_387305
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“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” ― Benjamin Franklin Or the one often missatributed to Ben “Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner.” I think I’ve seen it with the additional “A Republic is when the sheep is armed.”
Lawmaking is the central feature of government. In republics, lawmaking is the responsibility of representatives of the component members of society. Notwithstanding our beloved Constitution, I shake my head in disbelief when I occasionally read at conservative websites that modern America is a republic; it is little more a republic than Imperial Rome circa 300 AD was a republic just because emperors kept up the charade of republican institutions. Then, as now, what passes for republican government better resembles scenes of power-mad factions going at each other’s throats, rather than constituent members joined in common purpose to advance the best interests of the nation.
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