DEMOCRACY
Vs
REPUBLIC

"If there is any fixed star in our Constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty,
can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters
of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein."
Justice Robert H. Jackson

Many great American statesmen have made the mistake of referring to our form of government as a Democracy. It was never intended to be a Democracy, but a democratic Republic. There are major differences. Still, ask any 100 people you meet on the street or any 100 students in America’s schools what form of government we have and you will likely get 100 responses of, “a Democracy.”

James Madison’s Federalist Paper #10 discusses the issue of Democracies. In it he states: “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. Theoretic politicians, who have patronized this species of Government, have erroneously supposed, that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would, at the same time, be perfectly equalized and assimilated in their possessions, their opinions and their passions.” We can see from this that Mr. Madison would never have advocated a pure Democracy for his new nation.

In Federalist Paper #14 Madison wrote: “The true distinction between these forms...is, that in a Democracy, the people meet and exercise the government in person; in a Republic they assemble and administer it by their representatives and agents. A Democracy consequently will be confined to a small spot. A Republic may be extended over a large region.”

Madison continues in Federalist Paper #14 to describe a Republic thusly: “The effect [of having a Republic over a Democracy] (is to) enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of their country, and whose patriotism and love of justice, will be least likely to sacrifice it to temporary or partial considerations. Under such a regulation, it may well happen that the public voice pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more consonant to the public good, than if pronounced by the people themselves convened for the purpose.”

Essentially, a Democratic Republic is a limited government with enumerated powers (as specified in a Constitution) which is administered by persons elected by the people. These officials hold office at the pleasure of the electorate and must therefore strive to govern in a manner that is acceptable to the majority of voters.

The system breaks down when the electorate is misled by a biased news media or when special interests are able to manipulate the electoral process or, perhaps most significant, when the electorate no longer understands the working of the government and fails to exercise its proper oversight. For the system to function as our Founding Fathers envisioned it is necessary that the people understand the proper role of government as spelled out in our Constitution. It is not the function of government to ensure equality of outcomes. Any attempt to do so will eventually devolve into tyranny.

Concerning this tendency, in 1792, James Madison wrote in regards to property rights: “Government is instituted to protect property of every sort....This being the end of government....That is NOT a just government...nor is property secure under it, where the property which a man has...is violated by arbitrary seizures of one class of citizens for the service of the rest.”

The socialistic nature of our present-day government would have been abhorrent to Madison and the other Founding Fathers. Government’s function should not be to level the people to an equal mediocrity, but to ensure a level playing field upon which added effort or superior talent results in increased reward. That is the philosophy that built America and made it great.

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