A Republic versus A Democracy
April 27, 2010
Do Americans still share the values of our founders? Do Americans know the difference between a republic and a democracy?
As our nation is in the midst of the Obama transformation we are on the verge of losing control of the government that the founders put in place to protect us from tyranny. Our country is often referred to as a democracy. However this was not the plan of our founding fathers. In fact the founders goal was to create a republic.
What is the difference you might wonder? The fundamental difference is very simple. In a democracy the majority rules. When a majority rules the law is based on the wants and needs of the majority so as a result individuals lose. The government makes the rules according to their needs. The government determines and controls your rights. The founders believed that a democracy could be easily manipulated and ultimately result in a tyrannical form of government that would usurp the rights of its’ citizens. The government becomes the seat of power and the rights of the individual suffer.
Our republic was founded with a Constitution that was designed as a framework for government accountability and protection of individual liberties. In a republic, the individual is the focus of the government. A republican form of government relies on the rule of law. The government’s role is to protect the rights of the individual and to prevent mob rule. In a republic the government recognizes that the rights of its’ citizens come from God and nature. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution reaffirms our rights and liberties are granted by God not the government. It also limits the powers of the federal government. The structure of the federal government as laid out by the founders ensures checks and balances between the branches. Even the structure of Congress (# of House members based on population of a state vs. # of Senators, 2 per state regardless of population) is designed to prevent a dominant majority from abusing the minority. The bottom line is our founders created the framework for a republic not a democracy by design.
As pointed out by noted conservative writer Dr. Walter E. Williams, “The word “democracy” appears nowhere in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution… Instead of a democracy, the Constitution’s Article IV, Section 4, guarantees “to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.” … Does our pledge of allegiance to the flag say to “the democracy for which it stands,” or does it say to “the republic for which it stands”? Or do we sing “The Battle Hymn of the Democracy” or “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”?
It is clear what was intended… yet now there are many in office who have turned their backs on the Constitution, instead opting for personal power and control. Barack Obama has promised to “fundamentally transform America” and make no mistake the transformation has begun.
It is time to teach our friends and children our nation’s real history. It is time to return to the founder’s principles and the values that made America a great nation. Time is running out, join the cause to return America to its’ role as a beacon of hope and leader of the free world.
Restore the Republic, Reject the Agenda of the Progressive Left!
“Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” – The Declaration of Independence
“A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins” – Benjamin Franklin
“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”- Thomas Jefferson
