What amazes me is how even educated people believe that this country is a democracy. It isn’t. Our country is a republic, meaning “under the law.” That law in which we are under is the constitution. And this is a good thing.A true democracy is where the majority vote wins. Although this may sound good, it is extremely problematic. You see, if the majority is corrupt, so then will be our government, and not the corruptness that we think we have in this country now.
This is the type of corruptness that is out of control, with nothing in place to minimize its effects. The kind that controls what you wear, what you learn, and practically every aspect of your life. It’s that form of corruptness that will lock up you, or members of you family, for any amount of time, for any reason. When you think about it, things may not be perfect in our country, but they could be much worse.
Under a republic, any and all laws made have to stand up to the constitution. Any that fall short will be thrown out of the law books. That means that no one can make up a law that our constitution protects us from. For instance, they can never make a law banning guns because it would be unconstitutional.
People have argued that the checks and balances don’t work because the president picks the judges for the Supreme Court. Even though the president does appoint some of the judges, their jobs are secure enough that they can vote any way they choose. Not to mention, no president has chosen every judge that sits on the Supreme Court, and very few issues they vote on require a unanimous vote.
Those the president does pick still have to decide with those he didn’t. (Forgive the “he,” but there hasn’t been a woman president, and there won’t be one this election either.)
The proof that this country is a republic, and not a democracy, happened during the first Bush election. In that election Al Gore won the popular vote. Yet, it didn’t matter because in the constitution votes are counted according to the Electoral College vote. This isn’t the same as the majority vote, technically.
This isn’t a lesson in government, so I’ll be brief. Each state has a certain number of Electoral College votes. These are actually people who are supposed to cast that vote according to the majority. Although they normally do vote according to the majority, they don’t have to, but that’s another lesson. This is how our forefathers set it up. The reason was to ensure that every state counted. Without it, candidates would most likely overlook states like Wisconsin.
After that example, one might be against a republic, but it is a great protection plan. Under a democracy, people can be bought or threatened to ensure a vote. That is a scary concept. That has me begging the question: How is it much different than a dictatorship? I understand that with a democracy one theoretically can cast their own vote, but if they vote under duress, that’s not much of a personal choice. Even if their vote is bought, that doesn’t say much for freedom of personal choice.
There is no doubt that there are imperfections in our government. One major imperfection is that Congress doesn’t represent us, it represents lobbyists. I don’t care what political party line they are, each party is just as easily bought off as the other.
This leads to another major imperfection. This imperfection is the fallacy that there is a difference between Democrats and Republicans. At one time, maybe, but not now. There is absolutely no difference. They each generally say the expected rhetoric for their party. However, hearing them speak now, each party says rhetoric traditionally stated by the other party.
I often hear that Democrats are for the working class, while Republicans are for the wealthy, yet in reality they both serve their own kind. In order to be a politician, one must have money. These people haven’t lived in the real world. They all have gone to good schools and had great opportunities that many of us can only dream of. How can someone who has never truly experienced hard times understand what the “American people” need? They can’t.
Plus, there is the reality that they have made promises to campaign contributors which aren’t any different than lobbyists. Their devotion is ultimately to money, not us. However, at least our situation isn’t hopeless.
In a government lead by a true democracy, corruption can last for years, even decades. Even worse are the times when someone new does want in. The risk of violence and civil unrest is very real. Our country hasn’t had a civil war for centuries.
In spite of the financial difficulties this country has had, at least we aren’t so completely out of control. Times have been rough, but it has never been in complete chaos, at least not on those levels.
I don’t agree with going to other countries and telling them how to govern their people. Yet, we do, and will always do so. Even Obama, who has spoken against the war in Iraq, has spoken against some of the African countries’ treatment of their people.
So if we are going to change other governments, at the very least we should stop speaking of the greatness of democracy. It has been the greatness of a republic that has made this country strong.
Even though now our country is struggling, we will overcome. There are many areas where one can toss blame. The truth is fault falls on both parties. But our country will rebuild. Even with those areas of imperfections, we will survive. No matter how bleak times may feel, this is still a great country.
