~darkpoetess

Nationalism is about as much a part of the upbringing of American youth as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Every morning they rise from their cold little desks for the ritual in which they recite a pledge to our nation's flag, a pledge which pretty much sums up the core belief system of the American way. While the words and phrases may be incomprehensible to them when they are small, the language flows as smoothly from their tongues as sugar through a sieve. The curious part of it all is that even as adults, you'll find that many Americans have never pondered the meaning behind those words. When they are prompted to, it's like grease to a squeaky wheel.

And so the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States flag goes this way: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the democracy for which it stands,"….Wait a minute. Help me out here? Ah yes, "and to the REPUBLIC for which it stands," which brings me home to the whole point of this rant. A common misconception about the government of our country is that it is a Democracy. Misconception?? Have I gone mad?! Well, that's beside the point. While the words Democracy and Republic are often considered synonymous, the truth is that when you really analyze them, the differences are plain as day.

An example I have seen appear quite often to explain the major difference is actually a good one. Imagine you own and live on a large piece of land. One day, someone comes and offers to buy it from you. You refuse. Later, this person comes back with say 10 friends determined to buy your land. A vote is taken and tallied to determine whether you shall keep your land and you lose 11 to 1. Because of majority vote against you the land is divided up among the 11 voters and you must now find a new place to live. This is called a Democracy.

Now imagine the same scenario, only this time, it wouldn't matter if the person who originally wanted to buy your land came up with 10 people or 10,000 people to take your land because of a charter that protects your individual rights. This is called a Republic and that charter is what we refer to as the United States Constitution. So where a Democracy is based upon majority rule, a Republic upholds the rights of the individual.

To give a personal example, I am currently working on a book display for Banned Books Week in celebration of the freedom to read. As I researched information as to why certain books were banned, censored, or challenged, this topic came to my mind. Imagine parents trying to ban Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark from a school by a majority vote because the stories gave their own children nightmares. In a purely democratic situation, that book would be off the shelf along with the Diary of Anne Frank, The Call of the Wild, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and dozens of others. And this has happened, but thanks to our Bill of Rights, those rulings have been overturned. It doesn't matter if it's a 60% or 95% majority, the individual right of the PARENT to decide what their child can read is protected.

The founding fathers believed in liberty, not mob rule or anarchy and what they realized, is that a Democracy would be subject to tyranny under circumstances of apathy and ignorance. They believed in a government by the people, but they also believed that a government run by the "mob" would suffer collapse. While the Constitution never uses the word Democracy it does say that "The United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a Republican Form of Government". In a Republic, through free elections, public officials are chosen to represent the people. The power of those officials is limited by an established set of fixed principles precisely to avoid the dangers of tyranny. This is what the foundation the United States was built upon was it not?

So why then is our government nearly 100% of the time referred to as a Democracy? Well, the obvious answer is self governance. Americans were certainly not the first to attempt this. Others had tried and failed such as Athens and Rome, both democratic governments. The founding fathers wanted a government stronger than a "mobocracy". The Constitution was written to resolve problems with Democracy, and a Republic became the framework.

I ran across this quote of Abraham Lincoln to a mother whose five sons had died in the war:

"I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts, that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom"

And so I've said my peace, and so endeth this rant.

"And to the republic"....