...And to the Republic, For Which it Stands

I published this on GoAmericaProject 09Nov09

When asked the question “Can you name the form of government that is in place in the United States?” I would be willing to bet that a large portion of Americans would get the answer wrong. I contacted Gallup and Rasmussen via e-mail to ask if this poll had ever been conducted. I haven’t received a response from Rasmussen, and a representative from Gallup told me that they haven’t asked that particular question. I believe that the media’s attempt to skew our view for profit, along with silver-tongued politicians that tell us what our opinion should be, have made our knowledge of government fundamentals all but disappear.

The form of government that is in place in The United States of America is a republic, not a democracy. Article IV, Section IV of the Constitution of the United States reads: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic Violence.” And that’s the way we should keep it.

On November 30, 1928, the War Department issued Training Manual No. TM 2000-25, which was a manual that taught our young men in the Armed Forces the fundamental principals of government and culture. Training Manual No. TM 2000-25 (section 120) had very clear definitions for democracy, autocracy (which I will omit), and republic.

According to the training manual, a democracy:

• A government of the masses.
• Authority derived through mass meeting or any other form of "direct" expression.
• Results in mobocracy.
• Attitude toward property is communistic — negating property rights.
• Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate, whether it be based upon deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences.
• Results in demagogism, license, agitation, discontent, anarchy.

A republic:

• Authority is derived through the election by the people of public officials best fitted to represent them.
• Attitude toward property is respect for laws and individual rights, and a sensible economic procedure.
• Attitude toward law is the administration of justice in accord with fixed principles and established evidence, with a strict regard to consequences.
• A greater number of citizens and extent of territory may be brought within its compass.
• Avoids the dangerous extreme of either tyranny or mobocracy.
• Results in statesmanship, liberty, reason, justice, contentment, and progress.
• Is the "standard form" of government throughout the world.
• A republic is a form of government under a constitution which provides for the election of (1) an executive and (2) a legislative body, who working together in a representative capacity, have all the power of appointment, all power of legislation, all power to raise revenue and appropriate expenditures, and are required to create (3) a judiciary to pass upon the justice and legality of their governmental acts and to recognize (4) certain inherent individual rights.
• Take away any one or more of those four elements and you are drifting into autocracy. Add one or more to those four elements and you are drifting into democracy. — Atwood.

In short, a democracy is a form of government that is ruled solely by its people with no checks and/or balance. There are no personal rights unless you’re in the majority. A republic is a form of government that guarantees individual rights by keeping tyrannical masses under control through the rule of law. The rule of law, in our case is the Constitution of the United States.

The most widely used example that I have found to explain the difference between a republic and a democracy is a lynch mob. It’s a grim example, I know, but it fits perfectly. If a lynch mob, consisting of twelve people, want to hang a man for a crime that he may or may not have committed, thirteen votes will be cast on whether or not he should be hanged. The only “no” vote will come from the man that is swinging from the gallows. That is the rule of law under a democracy. Under a republic, the lynch mob brings the accused man to the police because it is illegal for them to be judge, jury, and executioner. The police see that the man has a fair trial, and a jury of twelve people have to unanimously pass down a guilty verdict in order for the man to be hanged.

The way in which the leader of the government is elected in a republic may seem similar to a democracy at first glance, but the structure of the electoral system is vastly different. In a democracy, the leader of the government is elected by popular vote; the person with the most votes will win the election. In the American Republic, we use a system called the Electoral College. When we cast our vote, we are advising our elected representatives on whom we would like to have elected. It is up to the elected official to cast the actual vote. More often than not, even with the Electoral College, the presidential candidate that receives the popular vote will win the election. In the history of the Electoral College, only four candidates who have received the popular vote have lost the presidential election, Bush-Gore in the 2000 Presidential Election being the most recent example. George W. Bush won 47.9% of the popular vote, while 48.4% of the voters were in favor of Al Gore. Bush received 271 electoral votes versus 266 electoral votes for Gore, therefore awarding the Presidency to George W. Bush. The Electoral College isn’t a perfect system, but it is the result of a compromise that was made by the Founding Fathers in order to ensure that neither the people nor the government would have complete control over presidential elections. I’ll have more on the Electoral College in a future post.

Democracies always break down over time, mainly due to human nature. The underachievers of a society will slowly elect more and more government to take care of them, while the achievers prefer to fend for themselves, and enjoy having the freedom to make their own decisions. As the government grows, the achievers of a democratic society get tired of seeing the rewards of their hard work going to support lazy, able-bodied people. It becomes more attractive for an achiever to become an underachiever because they can live nearly the same lifestyle without putting in long hours of work. Eventually, the majority of the people aren’t willing to support themselves, companies go under, and the government has complete control over every aspect of each individual, because the government has control over the wealth of the entire country.

The point of everything I have written so far is this: we need to educate ourselves instead of relying on a television news station to educate us. We need to educate our children instead of being satisfied with a passing report card. We need to take anything that a politician says as an invitation to dig deeper into the subjects at hand.

If people don’t know such a simple fundamental aspect, such as what form of government is in place in their own country, what else are they missing out on? If the majority of Americans can name every contestant ever to sing on American Idol, but can’t name their local and state representatives, we have a problem. Many politicians would love nothing more than to have complete government control over the country. If those politicians can convince people that Americans will be better off by having the government taking care of them, our republic will turn into a democracy over time.

When the Constitutional Convention adjourned in 1787, a woman walked up to Benjamin Franklin and asked him what form of government he had given us. Mr. Franklin replied “A republic ma’am, if you can keep it”.