Republic not a democracy

Many people are under the false impression our form of government is a democracy, or representative democracy. This is completely untrue. The founding fathers were extremely knowledgeable about the issue of democracy and feared a democracy as much as a monarchy. They understood that the only entity that can take away the people’s freedom is their own government, either by being too weak to protect them from external threats, or by becoming too powerful and taking over every aspect of life.

They knew the meaning of the word “democracy,” and the history of democracies; they were deliberately doing everything in their power to prevent having a democracy.

In a republic, the sovereignty resides with the people themselves. And one may act on his own or through his representatives to solve a problem. The people have no obligation to the government; instead, the government is a servant of the people, and obliged to its owner, we the people.

A constitutional republic has some similarities to democracy in that it uses democratic processes to elect representatives and pass new laws, etc. The critical difference lies in the fact that a constitutional republic has a constitution that limits the powers of the government.

Curtis Borders

Spokane