Words matter. They reflect and define our thoughts, our self-image, our collective beliefs, our government and our laws. That’s why legislators, lawyers and judges argue interminably over the presence or absence of single words in statutes, and their interpretation.

Such an argument over the nature of our government is currently on a low boil. Are we “our democracy,” or a constitutional, representative republic? What’s the difference and why does it matter? Isn’t a representative republic just another kind of democracy, and what’s the difference between democracy and “our democracy,” which is the term Democrats/socialists/communists (D/s/cs) use to try to define our current, and they hope future, system of government.

As the story goes, at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention—Sept.17, 1787—Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government the Convention gave the American people.  He replied: “A republic, if you can keep it.”

Article IV, section 4 of the Constitution provides:  

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.

One may find more of the intentions of the Founders in The Federalist No. 22 (Alexander Hamilton), The Federalist No., 39 (James Madison), The Federalist No. 51 (James Madison—possibly Hamilton) and The Federalist No. 59. All provide insight into why the Founders gave us, as Benjamin Franklin said, a constitutional, representative republic rather than a democracy.

To be sure, one may argue our republic has some characteristics of a democracy, but democracy’s tendency toward corruption makes all the difference, which is why D/s/cs insist on referring to our form of government as “our democracy.”  It’s also why they recoil from speaking the words “representative republic” as does a vampire from sunlight. In 2020, Mike Lee, one of our senators who has actually read and understands the Constitution, spoke the words:

Graphic: Twitter screenshot

As one might expect, D/s/cs, relying on the constitutional illiteracy of much of the Congress and public, immediately engaged in faux outrage:

Graphic: Twitter screenshot

How dare anyone say we’re not a democracy! What D/s/cs mean and intend by “our democracy” is a tyranny of the majority.  Madison addressed this very human tendency in The Federalist No. 51:

But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controuls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to controul the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to controul itself.

In “our democracy,” a tyranny of the majority, all that matters is what 50.00000001% of the population, the barest majority, wants. The Constitution may be ignored and the minority may be deprived of property, liberty even life at the whim of the majority. It makes no difference to the deprived minority if the majority deprives them for intentions pure or vile.

One need only have been paying minimal attention the last four years to see those tyrannical intentions. D/s/cs continue to try to abolish the First and Second Amendments. They’re established a two-tiered system of injustice, and are doing all they can to bankrupt, imprison and destroy Donald Trump, the presidential front runner, the man who represents perhaps half the electorate.

In our representative republic, every citizen has unalienable rights, rights given by God, which cannot be taken away by government. Among them are life, liberty and property, and no majority may steal them. Nearly 250 years of jurisprudence has confirmed and defined our representative republic and more effectively secured individual rights. Some leftist judges continue to prefer their policies over the text of the Constitution, which as Sen. Lee observed, does not contain the word “democracy,” and one can certainly argue the rule of law is damaged if not deceased, but for the time being we remain a representative republic.

D/s/cs would keep Americans ignorant about this fundamental governing difference. They would lie, have us believe anyone who opposes “our democracy” is anti-American, the better to fully establish a tyranny of the majority and with it, eternal one-party rule. The Federalist Papers, the history of the Constitutional Convention and the very text of the Constitution make clear the importance of words, words over which the Founders argued and compromised. If America is to endure, it can only be under the representative republic the Founders established. D/s/cs, as Franklin warned, are determined we do not keep it.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.