Democracy or Republic

When Thomas Jefferson was asked to write the declaration of independence, he looked at different forms of government. A monarchy, even a constitutional monarchy, was out of the question. A Roman style Dictatorship with a Senatorial representation was also rejected. Pure democracy was the downfall of ancient Greece, and socialism wasn’t even in the vocabulary at that time. The monarchy in France was going through some seriously troubling times that eventually led to a rebellion which ended in a Republican form of government – although, Jefferson could not have known that outcome at the time.

The eventual form of government for our country was not officially declared until the Constitution was ratified in 1790. From the time of the Declaration of Independence to ratification of the Constitution, the Articles of Confederation governed our country. The United States Constitution gave us a Republic of states represented by democratically elected representatives.

Why such a seemingly convoluted form of government? Well, for one thing a pure democracy – where every person has a vote and every vote counts equally – would allow huge voting blocks, such as those in large cities, to overwhelm the process and essentially give them ruling power. States and areas with lower populations would have no voice in government. A bicameral Congress with apportioned elected representatives from all states was seen as assuring equal representation for all populations.

For practical purposes, the government was split into three branches: Congress, Executive, and Judicial. While Congress has the sole decision-making authority regarding laws, budgets, taxation, and treaties, the Executive branch embodied in a single elected President is empowered to execute the will of Congress and day-to-day operations of the federal government. The President is also the Commander-in-Chief of the military. The President is elected, not by the majority of the voters, but by vote of the Electoral College. This too was engineered to allow equal representation of all urban and rural areas of the states.

Why have I gone to such lengths to explain our government? Astoundingly, I find all too many American “citizens” have no clue how our government works. If you ask people randomly on the street what kind of government we have, the majority would likely say Democracy. Sadly, many would simply shrug, and say, “I dunno.” You see, civics is no longer being taught in schools. By the way, both answers are wrong. We have a Republic.

Our congressional representatives, both in the House of Representatives and the Senate, are elected democratically. Every voting age citizen is entitled to vote for a Representative from their apportioned district and two Senators from their state.  While many politicians are grouped into a party, citizens can vote for whomever they choose.

It may seem like there are only two political parties. In reality, though, there is no limit to the number of parties that can be represented in our government. Political parties were formed to define a cohesive policy among like-minded individuals. Each party has a platform that they present to the voters during elections. Generally, the elected members of a party will vote for policies consistent with their party platform. It’s not a hard-and-fast rule that a politician must vote with the party platform, but more often than not this is the case.

Our form of government has served us well for more than 225 years – the longest form of government in history. Many other countries have tried to emulate our government with variations here and there, but none have been as economically or socially successful as the United States of America.

So, when someone proclaims we are a democracy, you can proudly correct them and say that we are a constitutional Republic with democratically elected representatives. And, despite what our current President seems to think of our constitution, it is still the law of the land, and Congress still makes the rules.