Our nation is a Republic
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Editor,
I often hear people say our nation is a Democracy, but this is inaccurate. You might be surprised to find that the word Democracy never appears in the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence. If we want to understand where our country went awry, perhaps we should start with a simple statement of fact: America is a representative republic, not a democracy.
Democracy is rule by an all-powerful majority. The individual, and any group of individuals composing any minority, have no protection against the unlimited power of the majority.
Democracies self-destruct when the nonproductive majority realizes it can vote itself handouts by electing candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury. To maintain power, candidates adopt an ever-increasing tax and spend policy to satisfy the ever-increasing desires of the majority. As taxes increase, the incentive to produce decreases, causing the productive to drop out and join the nonproductive. When there are no longer enough producers to fund legitimate functions of government plus socialist programs, the democracy will collapse, followed by dictatorship.
A Republic has a very different purpose and is an entirely different system of government. Its purpose is to protect an individual’s rights and the liberties of people in general. The genius of the republic was the rule of law, unalienable rights from God and the preeminence of the sovereignty of the individual, with government held at bay by strictly defined and limited powers.
Our Constitution has been weakened through the use of executive orders, unconstitutional legislation, an uninformed electorate, a court system run amuck, and a majority of people desiring government handouts.
Many people now believe our rights come from government rather than from God. If you accept the premise that government gives you your rights, you must also accept that it can also take them away.
Educate yourself, or lose the Republic to tyranny.
Terry Backs
St. Ignatius
