Friday September 29 12:40 AM ET
Minor Party Candidates To Debate
By PATRICK HOWE, Associated Staff Writer
IS U.S. A Republic or a Democracy? A Citizen Layman's View
What do we have? A Republic or a Democracy?
This is a question we need to know if we are going to have responsible representative government.
Unfortunately many people have been told for decades that a Republic and a Democracy are the same, when in fact there is a great gulf between the two so great that the very foundation of our country is at stake if we choose wrongly.
The answer and explanation to this question is quite simple. We have a Republic, not a Democracy. A Democracy is a rule by the majority. Put another way:
the majority is the supreme law of the land and a democracy is unstable since no one is in the majority at all times. This sooner or later will result in a rule by a few. This type of government is referred to as an oligarchy. Kings and dictators are in this type of government.
James Madison had this to say about Democracy on page 81 of the Federalist Papers.
"Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal liberty or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”
A republican form of government is founded upon a set of laws known as the constitution in which the people elect representatives to enforce the supreme law of the land, that being the constitution, and all subsequent laws provided they do not conflict with the supreme law of the land.
Article 4 Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution guarantees us a republican form of government.
In the pledge of allegiance we take an oath to the republic for which it stands.
Former Supreme Court Justice Joseph Storey said this about the USA.
"The foundation of the Constitution laid the cornerstone of our national republic."
James Madison on page 82 of the Federalist Papers had this to say about how a Republic differs from a Democracy.
"The two great points of difference between a Democracy and a Republic are: first, the delegation of the government, in the latter, to a small number of citizens elected by the rest; secondly, the greater number of citizens and greater sphere of country over which the latter may be extended.”
I am saying all this because we are a land governed by laws first and not of people. Those laws have not been obeyed but have been disregarded except when it is politically expedient as I believe has happened; we have been deceived by our many politicans and journalists for decades.
We have also been robbed and continue to be robbed of our national heritage and sovereignty when we are continually called a Democracy.
When will we wake up and stop this thievery?
Will we wait until our Republic disappears?
A land of the free and the home of the brave. It is a choice we must all make.
I for one will not let our Republic slip away, but with God’s help will fight for a Republic as long as I am able.
Charles M. Reese
Charles Reese is an active member of the John Birch Society. His letter was published many years ago in a Greensburg newspaper.
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Harry F. Atwood BACK TO THE REPUBLIC
