Would you prefer to live in a Republic or a Democracy?
Before you answer that question you might want to read this post and discover the differences between a Republic and a Democracy, and please keep in mind, where this post mentions *Republican* it is NOT a reference to the GOP.
REPUBLIC VS DEMOCRACY … for those who are still confused
United States Constitution
Art. 4 Sec. 4 Par. 1
“The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government.” [Not a democracy.]
Pledge of Allegiance – “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands …”
As Benjamin Franklin was leaving the building where, after four months of hard work, the Constitution had been completed and signed, a lady asked him what kind of government the convention had created. A very old, very tired, and very wise Benjamin Franklin replied; “A Republic, ma’am if you can keep it.”
(Webster’s dictionary definition: a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law.)
DEMOCRACY: Operates by direct majority vote of the people. When an issue is to be decided, the entire population votes on it; the majority wins and rules. A democracy is rule by majority feeling (what the Founding Fathers described as “mobocracy”). Example: in a democracy, if a majority of the people decides that murder is no longer a crime, murder will no longer be a crime.
REPUBLIC: Where the general population elects representatives who then pass laws to govern the nation … a republic is rule by law. Our republic is a form of government where power is separated, [our Founding Fathers knew that people are basically weak, sinful and corruptible, (Jeremiah 17:9)], pitting men against each other, making it difficult to pass laws and make changes.
WARNINGS …
John Witherspoon, signer - “Pure democracy cannot subsist long nor be carried far into the departments of state – it is very subject to caprice and the madness of popular rage.”
Zephaniah Swift, author of America’s first legal text - “It may generally be remarked that the more a government resembles a pure democracy the more they abound with disorder and confusion.”
Benjamin Rush, signer - “a simple democracy … is one of the greatest of evils.”
John Quincy Adams - “The experience of all former ages had shown that of all human governments, democracy was the most unstable, fluctuating and short-lived.”
Noah Webster - “In democracy … there are commonly tumults and disorders … Therefore a pure democracy is generally a very bad government. It is often the most tyrannical government on earth.”
James Madison - “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.”
John Adams - “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”
Source: SodaHead
Our Founding Fathers were brilliant men, they KNEW what they were doing, but as time passed and Americans became far too reliant on the government, a Republic went by the wayside and America became a more Democratic nation.
If the warnings stated above don’t convince you that a Democracy is going to be the death of the United States of America, nothing will. And if the imminent demise of this once great nation, and the fact that the damage she has suffered is irreparable doesn’t make a believer out of you, then the discussion of Texas secession and the reformation of a Free Republic of Texas is beyond your comprehension.
I have LOVED America for 59 years now, I have bled for this nation, but as many know, love of nation is much like marriage; once in a while there is no other solution to a bad marriage save a divorce. What we have now is a BAD MARRIAGE, one that is beyond repair, beyond counseling and beyond redemption.
I am NOT a traitor to the USA, not the USA I grew up in. I and not turning my back on America any more than our Founders turned their backs on England. I am however, convinced that The United States of America has turned its back on ME!
Great post Fred. Very well stated. A true democracy begets the “free cheesers”, a bankrupt nation, chaos and finally civil war, at which point its time to start over……..if there is anything left to work with.
Excellent post. Here’s what Walter Williams, one of the most brilliant men in America today, has to say about if we’re a Republic or a Democracy.
http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/wew/articles/05/republic.html
As we can see from the quoted Fred used in the post and those used by Mr. Williams, our Founding Fathers had an immense disdain for a Democracy. Many in government today want us to believe that the United States is a Democracy. Although the overwhelming majority of them have a (D) after their name, some do have a (R) after theirs. Maybe that’s why those on the left hate the Pledge of Allegiance so much
Spot on, Fred! Heck, I even had the First National Flag of the Confederacy flying from my house last week! (I lost my Bonnie Blue flag when we moved a couple of years ago, or it would be flying every day.) I’m wearing my Gadsden flag lapel pin, too.
A friend of mine, a small business owner, ran the US flag up his business’s flag pole UPSIDE DOWN — as a sign of a nation in distress. He caught hell for it, from some passing motorists, but he refused to change it.
This is all so very familiar. I think I have seen this movie before. A people THIS divided can only be made to live together through force of arms.
May God help us!
Deo Vindici
JDL
The freeloaders have discovered that they can vote themselves more and more entitlements from the government. When the money runs out, the nation is gone. As I feel now, may it happen soon.
The Free Cheese… Bloviating Zeppelin needs to trademark that one..
If only I could. But, in my estimation, it summarizes the concept in two succinct words.
BZ
There are those that seem to believe in the theory that once a state joined the union, it was never able to leave. The reason being that there was nothing in writing in the original agreement between that state and the federal govt about the process of secession, and therefore, the state cannot leave the union. However, I think it is the other way around. The state is a sovereign and since there is nothing in the agreement about not being able to leave, that a state may do so, without permission.
I believe that a state may leave the union for several reasons. First, our Founding Fathers believed that between the states and the federal govt, the states were politically superior. Therefore, the federal govt may not exercise any power over the state that it was not first granted by the states.
I get this notion from the following:
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it (The Constitution) to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Therefore, it is the STATES that did not grant any power to the federal govt to force them to stay in the union. The powers granted to the federal govt was limited to certain tasks. The power to compel the states to remain in the union NO MATTER WHAT, was not specifically granted to the feds, thus, the states retained their sovereignty. It also goes without saying that no state would ever confer to the federal govt, any power to force them to remain subordinate to a tyrannical federal government.
However, if you don’t agree with this argument and believe that the states did indeed, give up their rights when they signed on to the union, then there is this argument to be made. When the state joined the union, it did so with the understanding that the federal govt would maintain and guarantee a Republican form of govt. This was the understanding and agreement of the parties.
A state would be in breach of the agreement if it tried to leave the union for no reason. Conversely, the federal govt would be in breach if it failed to maintain a Republican form of govt or became tyrannical in ruling over the states or attempted to enforce powers not delegated to it by the states.
If we look at contract law, if one party breaches a contract, the other party is no longer bound by the terms of the contract (generally stated of course). If this is the case and a state becomes the victim of a tyrannical govt, then the fed has breached the agreement and a state may demand the fed abide by the agreement, and if they refuse, the state is no longer bound by the contract and may secede. The states are absolved of any duty to remain in the union.
I find it impossible to believe that our Founding Fathers intended the states to have no power or no say in the matter if they wish to leave the union. surely, our Founding Fathers did not require states give up their sovereignty just because they joined the union. The union was for the benefit of ALL the states. Our Founding Fathers feared a powerful central federal govt. They believed that all states should be allowed to govern themselves in the best way they saw fit. It is contrary to what the Founding Fathers stood for if we are to believe that the states gave up and transferred their power to control their destiny to a central authority. This would be tantamount to a monarchy, which is what they just got rid of.
Finally, two things come to mind. First, a quote from JFK:
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
If a state wants to leave the union, and I mean REALLY wants to leave, not just a statement made for show, and there is no peaceful avenue which may be followed, then war will be imminent.
Lastly, like Fred has stated, a state having to ask for permission to leave the union is silly. The states are NOT children that have to ask for daddy’s permission to leave the house. When America declared its Independence from Britain, it wasn’t a question, it was a BOLD STATEMENT. If good old King George refused this request, Americans didn’t simply shrug their shoulders and walk away. Americans DECLARED to the entire world that Britain would no longer dictate to America. That America was free to decide its own future. That America knew best how to govern itself. Americans were not going to be told what to do by a supposed privileged few that ruled from far away. Americans backed this statement up with arms and blood.
Of course, I hope it never comes to war. The Revolution and the Civil War, were Americans fighting for noble ideas. This still does not negate the fact that lives and families were destroyed and our country, regardless of the winners or losers, was devastated for quite a while. It took quite some time and it took much healing to get past these wars. I hope that what we are seeing now is simply a hiccup in our Republic. That the protections our Founding Fathers put in place holdup against tyranny and that obama will not become the next embodiment of stalin or hitler. That our Republic will remain forever, secure and intact.
Those quotes were from great men. We are missing great men now.
Majority rule is what our ballot box is supposed to be. Majority rule is what congress and senate are, the percentages and rules are bit different though. That’s why its so important for the people to be educated on the issues. And it MOST IMPORTANT that we elect TRUE AMERICANS to occupy congress. We the people have failed all counts…. The question now is how do we fix it?
Two ways. War and Ballot. Ballot has failed thus far…
We have no men of character in government any longer, I mean NONE..
You are correct. There are damned few “great men.”
I would recommend my Representative, Tom McClintock.
But he lacks karma, vibe, and ONLY possesses intellect, acumen, experience, great writings, budgetary wisdom and historical accuracy.
BZ
Gotta steal this one Fred and so spot on. I put up a small stars and bars at work and all hell broke lose. Need I say more????? I work for a state agency overrun by liberal idiots.
I DO understand… I put the Stars and Bars up on here a while back and got a lot of complaints..
I agree with you Fred, this is not the America that I grew up knowing or loving. America has turned its back on us and sadly I hear most Republicans refer to America as a democracy, it seems as if there are very few elected official on either side of the aisle who understand that America is a republic and not a democracy.
I wonder too how many even understand the difference. Great analysis.
Finally:
Walter Williams said it best and most concisely when he wrote, in two short sentences:
(In a Democracy) “the restraint is upon the individual instead of government. Unlike that envisioned under a republican form of government, rights are seen as privileges and permissions that are granted by government and can be rescinded by government.”
And there you have the major difference in my estimation.
BZ