Democracy vs. Republic
To the Editor: 8/28/05
It seems like all I heard in the news this summer was the war in Iraq and the spread of “Democracy”. Use of the word Democracy in this way alarms me greatly. The United States is not a Democracy, although many would have us believe that it is. The United States is a Constitutional Republic. There are momentous differences between a Democracy and a Republic. Our Founders knew this, and were very clear in writing and speech that what they had envisioned and established was a Republic. James Madison, in Federalist Paper #10, wrote: “…democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property.”
The word “Democracy,” in its strictest definition, is majority rule: mobocracy. Whatever the majority says goes. A pure Democracy can be compared to a lynch mob; no regard is given to the rights of the man with the noose around his neck, and his is the only dissenting vote. In a Democracy, people only have rights if the majority so agrees.
Democracy, loosely defined, can mean a “free country.” In such usage, it can be appropriate, but we mustn’t be deceived! The growing misconception that we live in a Democracy may seem harmless at first appearance, but, in reality, could lead to drastic harm to our country and way of life – if we continue to allow ourselves to be misled.
A Republic is a government of law. The constitution, as “the law supreme”, limits the government’s power. In a Republic, the government is established to protect God-given rights, and its powers are limited to no more than that. Sadly, this is no longer the case as Congress regularly enacts laws that violate the Constitution. A question rarely asked by Congress is this: Is it Constitutional?
Another popular misconception deals with the Christian Heritage of our country. One quote from Patrick Henry should suffice: “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religion, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Ben Nilson
Student id: A00303139
Contact: bennils@cc.usu.eduPhone: 787-1479