You hear it on the television, the radio, you read it in newspapers, magazines or on the internet. “America is a democracy,” “Our democracy,” “Our democratic form of government,” and so on.
Democracy ? The United States is NOT a democracy, it is a constitutional republic.
The founders did everything they could to prevent the formation of a pure democracy. Let’s look at what the founders said about democracy.
“Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes exhausts and murders itself.” – John Adams
“We are now forming a republican government. Real liberty is never found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments.” – Alexander Hamilton
“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.” – James Madison
“Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos.” – John Marshall
“The experience of all former ages had shown that of all human governments, democracy was the most unstable, fluctuating and short-lived.” – John Quincy Adams
“We have seen the tumult of democracy terminate . . . as [it has] everywhere terminated, in despotism. . . . Democracy! Savage and wild. Thou who wouldst bring down the virtuous and wise to thy level of folly and guilt.” – Gouverneur Morris
“A democracy is a volcano which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction. These will produce an eruption and carry desolation in their way. The known propensity of a democracy is to licentiousness [excessive license] which the ambitious call, and ignorant believe to be liberty.” – Fisher Ames, Author of the House Language for the First Amendment
“A simple democracy . . . is one of the greatest of evils.” – Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration
In a democracy, you have majority rule, no protection for the minority. The majority can take away your business, home, your children.
In a republic, you have the rule of law where the minority is protected from the capricious will of the majority.
The Founding Fathers rejected democracy because history has proven that democracy is not a stable or lasting form of government, it is but a brief stopping point on the way to an oligarchy, yet the lie is propagated by people still referring to our form of government as something it is most definitely NOT!
Jim started teaching classes on the Constitution in 2011, and currently is the Chairman of "Building Blocks for Liberty". Building Blocks For Liberty is a 501c3 non-profit educational organization dedicated to the preservation of the U.S. Constitution by teaching others the importance of this historical document that governs our nation. BBFL teaches ONE DAY Boot Camps on reading and understanding the Constitution, and they have held over 70 Boot Camps in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Texas since incorporating in July of 2014.
Jim also teaches the Constitution at the Providence Extension Program to 11th & 12th grade students and teaches World History to 8th graders.
Visit our website at www.buildingblocksforliberty.org.
- A Democracy or a Republic? - February 19, 2019
- Founding Principles: Only Congress Can Make Law - January 28, 2019
- First Principles: Enumerated Powers - January 24, 2019