Every time I hear a politician call this country a "Democracy" I cringe we are a Republic and the differences are vast. This makes Obama's Executive orders that much more offensive to me as it should for everyone.
Jared Law at The 812 Project has written a very good article.
America Is A Constitutional Republic, Not A Democracy! - UPDATED
America Is A Constitutional Republic, Not A Democracy!
By Jared Law | July 31, 2009
I have seen this misconception, even among patriots, on the Internet so often, and this is so critical to our ability to understand who & what we are, as a nation, that I had to say something and make sure everybody here on the 9.12 Project Network understood this fact so we're all on the same page. If you already know this, please share this information wide and far.
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The United States of America is NOT a Democracy; The United States of America is a Constitutional Republic:
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, One Nation Under God, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All!"
The Constitution of the United States of America, ARTICLE IV Section. 4:
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic Violence.
"The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind." -Thomas Jefferson, Letter to William Hunter (11 March 1790)
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The Founding Fathers knew that Democracy is a horrible system of government, totally inadequate for a nation as large as America, as well as conducive to a tyranny of the majority, so they gave us a Constitutional Republic with balanced sharing of powers and checks & balances keeping the progression of tyranny in check, for the most part, for many years
As Benjamin Franklin exited the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on September 18, 1787, a Mrs. Powel, who wanted to know the result of the months of deliberation, asked: "Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" Benjamin Franklin responded: "A republic if you can keep it."
Benjamin Rush said, in the year 1789: "A simple democracy ... is one of the greatest of evils" and James Madison said, in 1787, "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," and John Adams is reported to have stated "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide," in the year 1814.
By the 1830's, what we now call "progressives" had already begun transforming our language. Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language (1828 Facsimile Edition) is the last one to have fully Biblical/Christian education definition of all words. Nothing since, other than later printings of this edition of this dictionary, has been published, that I am aware of, that didn't contain some form of word distortion/pollution by those we now call "progressives."
Those "progressives" from the early 20th century all knew full well that we are a Constitutional Republic, IMHO, and like BHO, they felt that the Constitution of the United States of America was an impediment to their agenda, and one of the myriad things that was done to combat the Principles of Liberty Enshrined in the Constitution of the United States of America, was to promote the falsehood that we are a democracy, rather than a Republic. As Glenn Beck highlighted in his speech at CPAC 2010, in 1938, the COMMUNIST PARTY was publicly exhorting people to vote for "progressive" candidates in pamphlets. This makes it far easier to frame the argument in terms more agreeable to tyranny and oppression, empowering the media & the government-run schools to more easily mislead and misinform.
But even earlier than that, a significant, negative structural change in the system of checks and balances set up by our founding fathers passed by Congress May 13, 1912, then ratified on April 8, 1913. It's name?
The 17th amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America
It modified Article I, section 3, of the Constitution of the United States of America, usurping the U.S. Senatorial Election process from the state legislatures, which process was a bulwark against the Federal Government's expansion of power, and turned the election of Senators over to the masses, removing yet another check and balance against unlimited growth and power of the Federal Government.
Prior to the passage of the 17th Amendment, Senators were chosen by state legislatures, which allowed much greater local control over the election process, thereby keeping the Senators linked to the best interest of the states. Sadly, with the 17th Amendment, Senators were given the incentive to increase their own power by bribing the uneducated of the electorate with their neighbors' tax dollars. This unwise change modified our Constitutional Republic to make it more like a Democracy, weakened the protections of the peoples' liberties in the process, and removed the Senate's check/balance against the Spending power of the House of Representatives.
Which brings up the point that technically, according to James Madison (Federalist No. 51, Wednesday, 06 February, 1788), we are a COMPOUND Constitutional Republic:
In a single republic, all the power surrendered by the people is submitted to the administration of a single government; and the usurpations are guarded against by a division of the government into distinct and separate departments. In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.
By the latter half of the 20th century, most public education resources had adopted the falsehood that America is a Democracy as if it were reality, and today, the very mention of the fact that we're a Constitutional Republic is met with scorn by those who know better, but don't want to admit it, as well as the well-intentioned, but misinformed, who have been misled by our public education system, and are resistant to new ideas.
I just wanted to clear up this misconception, because whoever controls the language, controls society. It's time we took back our country, including our culture! When we use the distorted definitions and false terminology of the American Left (so-called "progressives"), we are fighting the battle with one hand tied behind our backs. Awake and Arise, fellow Patriots! Wake up, America, and realize that liberty is being smothered in the back room! Let us continue to rally to her defense, even on issues that are seemingly small, such as the definitions of the words we use to discuss principles and issues. If it makes the difference in just a few dozen cases, it's worth it, but I would guess that if universally understood, this truth could potentially make the difference in a few hundred thousand, and indirectly, a few million cases, if not more!
Here is a great video clip* that does an excellent job explaining the differences between forms of government, including Democracy and the Republic:
The Chapter on the 12th Principle of Freedom in the Constitution, from The Five Thousand Year Leap: 30 Year Anniversary Edition with Glenn Beck Forewordhttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=9...1&a=0981559662, has the following to say on the subject:
During the early 1900s an ideological war erupted, and the word “democracy” became one of the casualties. Today, the average American uses the term “democracy” to describe America’s traditional Constitutional republic. But technically speaking, it is not. The Founders had hoped that their descendants would maintain a clear distinction between a democracy and a republic.
The creation of the current confusion developed as a result of a new movement in the United States. Approximately 100 people met in New York in 1905 and organized what they called the Intercollegiate Socialist Society (ISS). Chapters were established on more than sixty college and university campuses coast-to-coast. In time the co-directors of the movement became Harry W. Laidler and Norman Thomas. Laidler explained that the ISS was set up to “throw light on the world-wide movement of industrial democracy known as socialism.”
What was this new movement attempting to accomplish? Socialism is defined as “government ownership or control of all the means of production (farms, factories, mines, and natural resources) and all the means of distribution (transportation, communications, and the instruments of commerce).” Obviously, this is not a “democracy” in the classical sense. And it is the very antithesis of a free-market economy in a republic.
...by 1921 the violence associated with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) had given the term “socialism” a strongly repugnant meaning to many people. The ISS therefore decided to change its name to “The League for Industrial Democracy.” The word “democracy” was supposed to carry the message that through the nationalization (government expropriation) of all the means of production and distribution, the nation’s fabulous resources would become the property of “all the people” — hence a democracy. Then America could enjoy “production for use, not for profit.” This meant that the word “democracy” was deceptive. Various devices were used to alert the public to the true meaning of the word. For example, the U.S. Army’s Training Manual No. 2000-25, published in 1928, contained a whole section explaining the difference between a democracy and a republic in their original, historical sense.
Our Founding Fathers studied Plato, Aristotle and Cicero, among others.
The Five Thousand Year Leap: 30 Year Anniversary Edition with Glenn...http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=9...1&a=0981559662
describes why a Republic was chosen over a Democracy :
There are many reasons why the Founders wanted a republican form of government rather than a democracy. Theoretically, a democracy requires the full participation of the masses of the people in the legislative or decision-making processes of government. This has never worked because the people become so occupied with their daily tasks that they will not properly study the issues, nor will they take the time to participate in extensive hearings before the vote is taken. The Greeks tried to use democratic mass participation in the government of their city states and each time it ended in tyranny.
In Federalist No. 10 (Thursday, November 22, 1787), James Madison contrasted democracy and the republic, pointing out that an expanding nation such as The United States of America couldn't confine itself to the limitations inherent in a democracy. The point is also touched upon in Federalist No. 14:
"...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." -The Federalist No. 14, Friday November 30, 1787
One thing is certain: the truth shall make us free:
John 8:32
32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
One of our most prominent Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, realized full well that knowledge leads to freedom, while ignorance leads to tryanny. No wonder the American left is so intent upon stealthily destroying our education system, by keeping it captive to the dictates of the federal government, and unaccountable bureaucrats, both federal, and within each state:
"A nation of well-informed men, who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them, cannot be enslaved. It is in the regions of ignorance that tyranny reigns." -Henry Stuber, as part of a biographical sketch of Benjamin Franklin, appended to a 1793 edition of Franklin's autobiography (sometimes reprinted with it in the 19th century). Frequently mis-attributed to Franklin himself.
http://www.the912project.us/forum/topics/america-is-a-constitutional
