Democracy By Default
Deborah Venable
07/13/06
I’ve
had a pet peeve for a long time now.
The misuse of the word, “democracy” to define America’s form of
government and that which we would like to “export” to other countries in the
name of promoting freedom and human liberty – that is my pet peeve. Educators used to be careful to explain the
difference between a democracy and America’s form of government, but that
doesn’t seem to be the case any more.
In fact, most natural born citizens of this country would probably use
the word, “democracy” to describe our form of government, or if they didn’t,
would not be able to define the difference between a democracy and the
constitutional representative republic that our founders entrusted to us. That has become a big problem today, and it
is slowly but surely leading us toward a democracy by default.
You
may be thinking that I’m splitting hairs here, or that I’m another right wing
nut that is spouting off about semantics in a troubled world full of real
problems. Well, ladies and gentlemen,
this is a REAL problem, and we had better start addressing it or this little
experiment called, America, will fizzle out and end up in the history books
with all the other failed democracies.
They all HAVE failed you know – democracies. Our founders were smart enough to know that and fought tooth and
nail to make sure that they did not establish another one. Indeed, if you search both the Declaration
Of Independence and the Constitution Of the United States, you will not find
the word, democracy, mentioned at all.
You WILL, however, find that that our Founders were establishing a
Republic – and they were very adamant about it.
As
I look around America today, I see more and more evidence that her citizens not
only do not know the difference between democracy and constitutional
representative republic, but that they are striving ever forward to make over
the government into a democracy!
Everything that is going on points to it. You see, in a democracy people actually resent the fact that
there is a head of state, which in our case is the president. Can’t deny that there are an awful lot of
folks that resent the hell out of THIS president, can we? (Just as an aside, it would help a lot if
this president, like most in recent history, would quit mislabeling our form of
government on a regular basis himself!)
But the chief indicator that people are turning their heads away from
our Republic and toward an idealistic democracy is the constant insistence on
demeaning the individual rights issue in favor of the “good of the
majority.”
This
isn’t a new problem, folks. Our
Republic started backsliding a long time ago before any of us were alive. We just haven’t helped the situation. I know that most do not want to hear this,
but it all started when Americans thought they had to deny the influence of a
Devine hand in our individual rights.
The Founders tried to make this abundantly clear, but few modern
American citizens realize that the keystone of our constitutional representative
republic is our INDIVIDUAL, God-given, inalienable rights. Individual rights are not preserved in a
democracy – even with a “representative democracy” that some would have us make
a distinction. Now, I can give you a
list of links where you can go and read what others have written, including
some of our Founders, on this subject – and I will at the end of this article –
but I would like to get you to focus on some points before you do. I believe it is extremely important that we
take the difference between democracy and republic seriously and see the signs
that all point to America slipping into a democracy by default.
Every
time that you hear people lament that our Constitution is “outdated” or that it
is a “living” document meant to be modernized according to the changes in our
society, the warning lights should go off in your mind. The laws that established this country are
not outdated, nor do they stand as they were meant to for our individual rights
any more because too many of them have been ignored by the MAJORITY. This has not happened because Americans no
longer want their individual rights.
Indeed, most do not even realize that in order for them to have THEIR
individual rights, they must adhere to the simple DEVINE laws that guaranteed
them – not some man-made, majority installed rules that have been applied by
default because individual responsibility was rejected. It is too bad that folks who call themselves
“progressives” have actually “congressed” themselves into a situation whereby
their progress is now in great danger.
In
recent years we have heard a tremendous rumble in the bowels of American
society to get rid of the Electoral College – that it is “outdated” and that
elections are hopelessly “rigged” and “democracy is not being upheld.” This, more than any other single factor,
points to the unforgivable ignorance of American society. The Electoral College is the only thing
standing between justice and injustice in our presidential election
system. Very closely related is the
effect that passage of the 17th Amendment had on our
government. Until that time, the
distinction between the two houses of Congress added a significant check and
balance that hasn’t existed since. It
has allowed government on the Federal level to grow to the behemoth,
power-wise, that it is now. You see,
the House of Representatives, consisting of 435 duly elected, (by the people)
representatives was the foundation of our representative republic. They were there to answer to the people, and
they had short tenures with which to establish their value as
representatives. They were supposed to
be reflective of the “average” American VOTING citizen, bring those concerns
before the great body of the legislature, and resist the urge to vote
themselves power above that of their constituents. The Senate, on the other hand, was not there to represent the
people. They were supposed to be there
to represent their individual republican STATES. Therefore, they were supposed to be elected by the people’s
REPRESENTATIVES in each state – not by a majority vote of the people. That makes a BIG difference, folks, whether
or not you want to believe it. The
Founders realized that justice would sometimes hinge on whether or not the
individual interests in one state – equally valuable in these united states –
would be swamped by a majority rule by MORE individual interests residing in
other states. That is why EACH STATE
had an EQUAL number of representatives – no matter their population. The Senate, then, was an important check on
power of the majority. What has
happened since the passage of the 17th Amendment is that senators
must appease the people and not the state, and so must the representatives in
the house. There is NO check on justice
for individual states floundering with small majorities of individuals. And you ask why individual rights have taken
a back seat in our government?
By
the same token, all of our congressional representatives are bought and sold by
the most powerful GROUPS of people with special interests. Whenever GROUPS take power they take it from
INDIVIDUALS. Where does that leave
ANYONE’S individual rights? I’ll tell
you – those rights are being consistently swept under the rug of secular
acceptance, which represents NO individual rights. Look it up if you don’t believe me. Human beings do not obtain their individual rights from
people. They are BORN with them. Therefore, justice dictates that individual
rights TRUMP majority rights. A
democracy does not recognize that, ladies and gentlemen. Pure and simple – that
is a fact. There are things that ARE
NOT UP FOR A VOTE in this American government our Founders left us. But very, very few citizens in this country
know or understand that.
As
promised, here are some links for further study that I think you will find
valuable.
Official Definition Of Democracy
An Important Distinction: Democracy versus Republic
What Is The Difference Between A Democracy And A Republic
Are We A Democracy Or A Republic?
Republic? Democracy? What's The Difference?
Is The United States A Democracy?
For
background on the 17th Amendment please see these two sites: