Exodus 18:21 “Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:”
When we repeat the Pledge of Allegiance we highlight this principle: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.”
Democracy requires the full anticipation of most of the population in the legislative or decision-making process of government. In a country like America with 300 million people that would be impossible to come to any type of decision. You take the masses of people in a country, like the United States of America, and most are busy in their everyday affairs and would not have the time to sit down in different hearings and to do the daily task that would be necessary. Our Founding Fathers knew that there would be an explosion of our population and so they worked towards building a Republic.
Looking back in history we see that the Greeks tried the Democratic method of mass participation in their states and cities and each time it ended in tyranny.
A Republic is governed through elected representatives and can be expanded indefinitely as the population grows in a country. A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
James Madison said: “democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and having general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. A Republic, by which I mean a government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking.”
Madison, like the other Founding Fathers knew that the United States would be pushing West and expanding said: “in a democracy the people meet and exercise the government in person; and a Republic they assemble and administered by the representatives and agents. A democracy, consequently, must be confined to a small spot. A Republic may be extended over large regions.”
He went on to give a very good definition of a Republic: “we may define a Republic could 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 pleasure for a limited period, or during good behavior. It is essential to such a government that it be derived from the great body of the society, not from an inconsiderable proportion or a favorite class of it; otherwise a handful of tyrannical nobles, exercise and their oppressions by a delegation of their powers, might aspire to the rank Republicans claim for their government audible title of Republic.”
Here in the states we would do well to remember the words of Madison, Benjamin Franklin and the other Founding Fathers.
Today we hear the word democracy that the average American uses to describe America’s constitutional Republic. We need to have a clear and distinct understanding between a democracy and a Republic.
In the early part of the last century some people came together and organized the ISS – The Intercollegiate Socialist Society. The idea in back of this was to throw light on a worldwide movement known as socialism. This new movement – socialism – is defined as government ownership or control of all things of production and distribution and all that that entails. The slogan that was adopted for this new movement was “production for use, not for profit,” which caught on and we see the results of this in the Western world.
But because of the violence that was associated with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) the term socialism was looked upon in a bad way and so it was renamed to “the league for Industrial Democracy.”
This was bringing in the idea that the word “democracy” would begin to convey the nationalization of production and distribution as well as the nation’s resources which then would become the property of all the people – hence a democracy and through that America could enjoy “production for use, not for profit.” We see this idea coming out with some of our politicians about the equal distribution of wealth which basically goes back to take from ‘the haves’ to give to ‘the have-nots’.
Some of the brilliant young leaders at the turn of the 20th century of ISS were now in some of the most prestigious positions in politics, the press, universities, etc., and became the opinion makers of our society. We see this still being played out through the radicals of the 60s who are now in places of influence.
Actually to all of this what we have is really an attack upon the Constitution of the United States. In other words their thought was that the Constitution was outdated and perhaps totally obsolete.
We hear this argument today among so-called “progressives” who want to change the Constitution. Basically with many of our politicians today it would seem that they are paying little mind to the Constitution, although upon taking the oath of the office is to protect the Constitution which is the law of the land.