By Darin Chappell
We are not a democracy.
While that is obviously the case, and no one with any real understanding of America’s constitutionally prescribed governmental form denies it, the statement is now more controversial than at any time during our life. Nevertheless, that doesn’t change the fact we are not a democracy.
Furthermore, we were never intended to be so. The writings of the founders are clear that the states may be democratic in their functions, especially at the local level, Justice Louis D. Brandeis even referring to them as “Laboratories of Democracy” wherein doctrines may be seen as experiments to be adopted (or avoided), depending on their efficacy, but the national government has always been, and was ever intended to be, one that presides over a republic.
This is more than simply a pedantic call to refer to constitutional premises by their constitutional terminology. It is imperative to understand the necessary distinction between the mob rule of a democracy, in opposition to the rule of law within a republic.
Countless numbers of words have been written in defining and contrasting the two types of government, and we will not belabor those distinctions here. However, a critical result in blurring the line between them is often overlooked. What expectations are propagated within the populace, when the media, educators, politicians and the average person consistently misidentifies the basic structure of the American government?
The results are a never-ending call for “fairness” as it relates to popular ideology. If a majority, or more often a vocal minority, is unhappy with a governmental outcome, immediately come the calls for abandoning the basic components of our republic.
If a president is elected with less than a majority of popular votes, clearly the Electoral College should be abandoned. The smallest of states has equal representation in the Senate, therefore that august body should be disbanded, obviously. Roe v. Wade has been overturned, so the six conservative Supreme Court justices ought to be impeached, or the Court packed to the point of their irrelevance.
These are not examples of hysterical fear-mongering from the right, but actual recent suggestions from leaders on the left. These ideas, and others, have been set forth in order to establish “fairness”; because we cannot, we are told, tolerate unfairness in a “democracy” such as ours. One would suppose this could be true, were we not a republic – but we are.
Let us stop using the word “democracy” in such an erroneous fashion. Beyond being incorrect, it fosters the false and dangerous idea that the whim of the majority ought to be law, even when national pendulum swings over the centuries have shown us time and again just how fickle public opinion can be.
Were everyone properly informed on the absolute uniqueness of our American republic, not only would the rash expectations of the ill-informed be quieted, but perhaps a sincere appreciation of the precious balance between the national and state governments might be reacquired. Maybe even a sense of patriotic pride could be re-instilled for living in a land where neither the tyranny of an individual nor the majority can usurp our rights and liberties. Possibly, we might even begin to show gratitude for a nation built from the genius of men who saw all too clearly just how dangerous a democracy would have been to all seeking freedom.
So, I say again, we are not a democracy … thankfully.
Darin Chappell is executive vice president of Veterans in Defense of Liberty.
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