America is a Republic NOT a Democracy! (commentary written for CNB 12/6/2010)

by Nickie Summers

A Rasmussen survey recently reported that out of 1000 likely voters polled nationally, forty-five percent (45%) believe that the Federal Government is working outside the limits of the Constitution. Yet thirty-nine percent (39%) believe they are working inside the limits and seventeen percent (17%) don’t know. These numbers show there is still much work ahead to educate Americans on the Founding Fathers’ ideas behind the Constitution and the boundaries of government. From FDR’s “New Deal” to Bailouts and Obamacare, Americans have been in a slow cooker of progressive socialism, suffocating under the nationalization of charity in the quest to advance Democracy. America is NOT a Democracy!!

In the early 1900’s politicians and special interest groups began integrating the word Democracy into the consciousness of America. They linked the word to so called “charitable” programs designed to serve the betterment of Americans and “Our Democracy.” As a result, the phrase “Our Democracy” replaced “Our Republic” in everyday dialogue. Overtime, the so called charitable programs, all for the sake of Democracy, did nothing more than create a welfare state and put America on the path towards socialism and fiscal destruction. We Learn The Constitution points out that Samuel Adams, Founding Father and among those who signed the Declaration of Independence, said the ideas of a welfare state were made unconstitutional by the Founders – “The utopian schemes of leveling (redistribution of the wealth) and a community of goods (central ownership of all the means of production and distribution) are as visionary and impracticable as those which vest all property in the Crown. (These ideas) are arbitrary, despotic, and, in our government (a Republic), unconstitutional.”* Unfortunately, politics of the early 1900’s saw things differently and began to overhaul and redefine freedom, liberty, and charity under the label of Democracy.

Today it’s common place to hear public officials and/or icons from Obama to Bush and yes, even Palin, refer to America as a Democracy. Every time I hear it, it’s like nails on a chalk board!

Democracy is a form of government in which supreme power lies in an organized body of people where decisions are based on “majority rule” and are binding to the rest of the people. Unlike a Democracy, America is a constitutional Republic, in which supreme power lies in a body of citizens who elect people to represent them. A Democracy, when unchecked, can quickly turn corrupt because its structure has no balance of power, making it possible for tyranny rule under a single political power or organized group; the majority oppresses the minority. A Republic, as designed by the Founders and protected by the Constitution, is the most balanced form of government because it delineates a separation of power (Judicial, Legislative, and Executive branch) and, by the voting power of an engaged electorate, public officials can be replaced – this constitutional framework best avoids an accumulation of power, promotes independence at its core, and best protects individual freedom and liberty.

Around the world we see Democracies in trouble; countries going bankrupt from the financial drain due to excessive welfare programs and corruption. America may be on the same path of destruction. In part due to the systematic plan to govern America from the perspective of a social Democracy instead of a constitutional Republic. First, politicians, schools, and the media perpetuate a culture of corruption and ignorance towards the Constitution. As a result, the line has become blurred between a Republic and a Democracy. Second, powerful unions and special interest organizations created a professional political core from which the “political chosen” are thrust into the spot light regardless of experience and high merit, but solely for the self-serving purpose to accelerate transforming America into a Democracy…on the verge of tyranny. In the day of the Founding Fathers, The People nominated and chose their public officials based on proven experience, constitutional wisdom, and personal virtue. The Tea Party movement brought these principles back into the theater of the electorate and created a shockwave of ‘uh-oh’ among the high power political core. As a consequence, put power back in the hands of The People to restore Our Republic.

Our country is far removed from the Constitutional model set forth by our Founding Fathers and Americans must remain vigilant to 2012 and beyond. Continue to educate the difference between a Republic and a Democracy. Teach the Constitution so the next time likely voters are asked, “Is the Federal Government operating inside the limits of the Constitution?” their answers coincide to an electorate that embodies a Republic instead of a Democracy.

I’ll close with three quotes from James Madison, Founding Father and 4th President of The United States of America:

“Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; have in general been as short in their lives as they are violent in their death.” - Federalist Papers, No. 10, November 22, 1787

“We may define a republic to be… a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during [the people’s] pleasure, for a limited period, or during good behavior.” – Federalist Papers, No. 39, January, 1788

“It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. We hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of citizens, and one of the noblest characteristics of the late Revolution. The freeman of America did not wait till usurped power had strengthened itself by exercise, and entangled the question in precedents. They saw all the consequences in the principle, and they avoided the consequences by denying the principle.” – James Madison “A Memorial and Remonstrance”, 1785

Nickie Summers is the creator of Stand Up Be Read™, author of the Children’s Book The 4th of July A Celebration of Independence, and regular contributor on Conservative Network Broadcasting.