It is disturbing the public education system does a poor job of educating people about republican form of government. However, I recall even in the 1960’s, when I was going through primary and secondary school, teachers described our government as a “democracy” not a republic. In those days we were taught about representative government and the checks and balances of the co-equal branches. Democracy was used as a synonym for representative government in which the people democratically vote for the people who make the laws and have the duty of protecting the natural rights of the people. Much was made of the proposition we have individual liberty because we have a representative government, democratically elected.
What I see in this poll is the people correctly do not perceive either political party is concerned with protecting the rights of citizens. Both parties are squarely behind the Patriot Act, created during a Republican administration, which gives government wide ranging powers to spy on citizens and detain them without due process. Large majorities of the politicians in both parties lined up during the Covid pandemic to dramatically restrict civil liberties as well using the power of the state to compel employers to make vaccination a requirement of employment. The denial of Constitutionally enumerated and protected rights of due process to January 6 protestors has been cheered by Democrats and has been ignored by Republicans. The intrusion of the administrative state into the lives of every citizen is a bipartisan action of politicians of both parties.
In the last 30 years how often have you seen Republicans actually unify and take a stand for individual liberty and freedom? They talk about it, but their words are empty because when it comes time to taking action they are largely silent. Only a few (Rand Paul, Louie Gohmert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Jim Jordan seem to be able to speak up consistently while the rest turn their backs.
The truth is that if a swat team broke my front door down in the middle of the night, the police seized my property thereby denying me the ability to use my own money to hire a top tier law firm, and the state imprisoned me indefinitely without bail or trial, there are only a handful Republican politician who would speak out against the denial of due process rights. The imprisonment without due process of the January 6 defendants is proof.
Look at voting rights. The Republicans repeatedly line up to renew the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which allows the federal bureaucracy to impose restrictions on how an arbitrary and select group of states conduct elections. Yet few Republican politicians take any action with respect to vote harvesting, loose controls on mail in voting, or eliminating chain of custody of votes.
If “democracy” means representative government in which the representatives view their role as protecting the freedom of citizens as defined by the enumerated rights in the Constitution, neither party today will defend freedom. Look at the leaders the Republican members of Congress elect. I am under no illusion Mitch McConnell or Kevin McCarthy wakes up in the morning and gives a thought to protecting democracy and consistent rule of law, much less ensuring all citizens the blessings of liberty. Stop listening to the patronizing words coming from their mouths and watch their behavior, specifically what they don’t do.
I’m actually surprised either party scored as high as it did in the poll.
Nothing really to argue about. I’d think some of those teachers might not want to say “Republic” in challenging the notion of “Democracy.” By that reckoning, a child might ask, “If we’re a Republic, and a Democracy is bad (which it is), might a Democrat party be bad ?” Of course, the answer is yes.
Curiously, being called a Democrat prior to Andrew Jackson’s era was considered an epithet. Though the Jeffersonians were the precursor to the Democrat party (and were named “Democrat(ic)-Republicans”), they referred to themselves as “Republicans” (although, again, the Federalists and then Whigs were precursors to the present Republicans).
You’re absolutely correct that if we don’t restore (R)epublican values as defined by the Constitution (and not the present party), there won’t be much of a country left in the coming years. Something of a more totalitarian nature will fill the void, and has already started.