Democracy?
This is my take…I am just an old warrior, a grunt…
Feel free to correct me and/or leave comments…I am all ears…
What is democracy? What is Liberty? We hear all kinds of references to both these days, don’t we? The terms get thrown away and I fear that the majority of Americans haven’t a clue, really, what either term means. We won’t even get into the terms Federal Republic or Democratic Republic and related terminology. According to the Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, democracy has been given the defined as “government by the people; especially: rule of the majority”, among a few others. What does majority rule mean and why is that an important aspect of democracy? Is majority rule relevant? If so, then why? According to the same dictionary previously mentioned, majority rule has been given the definition as, “a political principle providing that a majority usually constituted by 50% plus one of an organized group will have the power to make decisions binding upon the whole.” Wow; such a gaggle of words. We can gather from the definitions of Democracy and Majority Rule that the principles derived from them pertain to a tool whereby decisions can be made and applied or enforced.
With that in mind, is Democracy a good thing or a bad thing? Consider this; you like strawberry milkshakes but the majority has voted and taken the decision as to whether you should like strawberry milkshakes under consideration. The majority votes that it will be vanilla milkshakes and the strawberry milkshakes will no longer be available. The same process can be applied to every aspect of your life. Is this good or is it bad? For you, the strawberry milkshake drinker, it is bad. You are in the minority so you lose that particular choice. The decision process has been removed from you. For the majority, there is no more issue. Vanilla milkshakes it is. That “sounds” a little like tyranny, doesn’t it? Does this mean that Democracy is a form of tyranny?
Yes, it is. However, this form of tyranny is an elected type of tyranny. What then, is tyranny? It is back to the dictionary for a definition, “oppressive power exerted by government.” Really? We just had an election and the majority voted for vanilla milkshakes. The majority rules in a Democratic society so why is this considered to be tyrannical? This issue isn’t as simple as some would lead us to believe.
The Father of our Constitution, James Madison had this to say about a pure Democracy, “there is nothing to check the inducement to sacrifice the weaker party or the obnoxious individual.” So, then, we may gather that a Democracy, in its purest form can lead to tyranny. So, is Democracy good then? Ask John Adams. He had this gem to express, “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”
Other wise men have made observations about democracy and several have compared democracy to a republic and have determined that the differences between the two are similar to the differences between chaos and order. Isn’t that a wondrous commentary to ponder? People of the world and world leaders prattle on about Democracy and all they want is tyranny, chaos and order? This can sound rather contradictory can it not? Why would other peoples want this?
You see, our Founding Fathers were really smart men. They had lived through various forms of government and watched many come and go. They knew the pitfalls and the snares and the traps. Unfortunately, our modern leaders have lost their way.
Our Founding Fathers had every intention on protecting the people of the new Nation of America. They did not want a tyrannical form of government. They did not want a king. They did not want a dictator. They intended to create a republican form of government. We will need to define this form of government so, it is back to the dictionary, “a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law.” This is a far cry from Democracy is it not?
Personally, I don’t know why our politicians in this country as well as others make a big deal over Democracy. It is certainly superior to Socialism or Communism but we will discuss those issues another day. Would it not be better to spread our Founding Fathers’ dream and experiment? Yes it would. However, we would have to return to it in order to proclaim it and spread the good news around.
That brings us to Liberty. What is Liberty? It is the “freedom to do as one pleases (anarchy) and quality or state of being free and free from arbitrary or despotic control.” Our form of government as envisioned by our Founding Fathers was a Federal Republic, ruling over the “various states” and ensuring continuity and protection from foreign and domestic enemies.
It was a combination of Democracy, Tyranny, Republican, Anarchy and Liberty. Combine them all into one form and you achieve a Federal Republic where the PEOPLE govern and the politicians carry out the demands of the PEOPLE, not the other way around. The people are free to CHANGE the government at will. (remember that) Combining these five elements and deriving law and order, a healthy society will emerge.
Today, in America, the politicians have become the governing body and “We The People” are their serfs. We have become a form of government our Founding Fathers feared the most. The people are no longer the ruling body.
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