We hear it all the time… Democracy. Whether it’s preserving democracy in America, or making parts of the federal government more democratic, it seems people today are obsessed with democracy. But do they know what the word means?
DEMOCRACY, noun Government by the people; a form of government, in which the supreme power is lodged in the hands of the people collectively, or in which the people exercise the powers of legislation. Such was the government of Athens.
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
So why wouldn’t people be excited about democracy? Who wouldn’t want a government by the people? What could be more fair than a system of government where the supreme power is lodged in the hands of the people? What’s the big deal? Well, the big deal is that the United States of America is not a democracy, never has been a democracy, and becoming one was a great fear for our Founding Fathers.
Founders View’s on Democracy
Why wouldn’t our Founding Fathers want us to be a democracy? Mostly because they’d seen democracies in action.
We are now forming a Republican form of government. Real liberty is not found in the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments. If we incline too much to democracy we shall soon shoot into a monarchy, or some other form of a dictatorship.
Alexander Hamilton
A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.
Thomas Jefferson
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.
John Adams
Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been 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.
James Madison
“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!”
Benjamin Franklin
The problem with democracies is they don’t scale well. Sure, in a small group where everyone can be directly involved in the legislative and executive process, democracies can work. What happens when the group gets too large for a direct democracy though, and the people instead elect representatives to do the work for them? Those representatives become the target of influence peddlers. Be it financial or political, those elected to hold office are pressured to influence the system in order to remain in power.
The other problem with democracies is they do not protect unalienable rights. To use Benjamin Franklin’s quote, in a democracy the two wolves can easily outvote the rights of the sheep. What happens to your rights when they can be overridden by a simple majority of representatives? To find an answer, all we have to do is look in two places: Europe and university campuses.
Unlike America, most European countries are parliamentary democracies, not republics. The people choose representatives, or more frequently representative parties, and leave all the governing to them. The parliaments choose their leaders, the heads of state, and set the national policy. Without the restrictions of a republic, these nations are free to infringe on the people’s right to life, liberty, and property. Just look at the recent case of Charlie Gard. Charlie was a very sick child in the U.K. His parents had arranged for him to come to the United States for treatment that might have saved his life. However, Charlie’s doctors, who work for the government, not only didn’t approve of the experimental treatment, but got the High Court to prevent the parents from taking their own child to the U.S. In the case of Alfie Evans, another British judge prevented the child from traveling to Rome for treatment and ordered the child’s life support to be removed. In both cases, parents were prevented from obtaining potentially life saving treatment for their children at no cost to Britain’s National Health Service. And in both cases, a government official ordered that these children die rather than let their parents seek treatment. Is your right to life protected if a government official can prevent you from getting treatment or even leaving the country if they disagree with your decision? Other European countries ban the wearing of certain religious garments in public, the teaching of certain subjects in schools, and even publicly writing or speaking about certain topics. What good are your rights in a democracy that can ban them if enough people in power don’t like them?
The other place where we see democracy in action is college and university campuses. What started with “free speech zones”, where people were only allowed to exercise free speech in certain areas of campus, has metastasized into groups of students bullying administration, faculty, and their fellow students into not speaking on certain subjects, not allowing people with certain points of view access to campus facilities, and denying people the right to peaceably assemble for certain events. If mobs and faculty can determine what you are allowed to say, and where, you don’t have freedom of speech. How do you think the political “sheep” feel in the face of these “wolves”?
A Constitutional Republic
Unlike a democracy, where a majority of the people or their elected representatives can do whatever they want, a republic has more restrictions.
REPUB’LIC, noun [Latin respublica; res and publica; public affairs.]
1. A commonwealth; a state in which the exercise of the sovereign power is lodged in representatives elected by the people. In modern usage, it differs from a democracy or democratic state, in which the people exercise the powers of sovereignty in person. Yet the democracies of Greece are often called republics.
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
In the American republic, the powers of those elected to serve in the government are restricted by the Constitution. If Congress passes legislation that is unconstitutional, it is considered null and void. Courts are not bound to unconstitutional laws, states are not bound to them, and neither are the people. Of course, those who choose to disregard such laws will be asked to stand and give an account for their actions, probably before a jury. If an American citizen is told by their government they cannot seek treatment or travel somewhere for said treatment, not just the courts, but the American people should stand up to assist them and remove the offending official for the violation of their oath. Similarly, the American people should stand with those who wish to speak and hear other points of view on the campus of public schools and demand the removal of those who would infringe on the rights of others.
“Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”
“A Republic, if you can keep it.”
Benjamin Franklin
We have inherited a republic, but as Alexander Hamilton noted, our drive to make it a democracy is turning us into a monarchy. If liberty is supposed to be protected by a “well-armed lamb”, then we have laid down our arms and become lambs for the slaughter instead. We are now a country where the word of a single man can set policy and be used to infringe on our rights. Now we see candidates for office vying to see who can infringe on the rights of the American people the most. We are a nation where Congress believes it can do whatever it wants, as long as it can get enough votes. We have devolved into a land where the opinion of nine people in black robes supersedes the law created by the people and their agents. Mr. Franklin was right; we were given a republic, but it appears we were only able to keep it for a couple of centuries.