Forgive the proceeding tirade. It is directly a response of my work environment and the inability to say anything while under the guise of a “manager of US Bank”. I find it comforting that I can “vent” to my family and friends through my blog—you see, if you don't want to put up with it all you have to do is stop reading ;)
...Why is it that I find myself confronted with “Republicans” who adopt the practices and policies of a Democrat? I think that there is a distinction that needs to be made: Republicans are inherently for a Republic and Democrates are inherently for a Democracy. ...What's that you say? “Aren't a Democracy and a Republic the same thing?” --NO! “Well, ghee, don't we have a government that's a Democracy”? --NO!
The chief characteristic and distinguishing feature of a Democracy is: Rule by Omnipotent Majority. In a Democracy, The Individual, and any group of Individuals composing any Minority, have no protection against the unlimited power of The Majority. It is a case of Majority-over-Man.
This is true whether it be a Direct Democracy, or a Representative Democracy. In the direct type, applicable only to a small number of people as in the little city-states of ancient Greece, or in a New England town-meeting, all of the electorate assemble to debate and decide all government questions, and all decisions are reached by a majority vote (of at least half-plus-one). Decisions of The Majority in a New England town-meeting are, of course, subject to the Constitutions of the State and of the United States which protect The Individual’s rights; so, in this case, The Majority is not omnipotent and such a town-meeting is, therefore, not an example of a true Direct Democracy. Under a Representative Democracy like Britain’s parliamentary form of government, the people elect representatives to the national legislature--the elective body there being the House of Commons--and it functions by a similar vote of at least half-plus-one in making all legislative decisions. In both the Direct type and the Representative type of Democracy, The Majority’s power is absolute and unlimited; its decisions are unappealable under the legal system established to give effect to this form of government. This opens the door to unlimited Tyranny-by-Majority.
A Republic, on the other hand, has a very different purpose and an entirely different form, or system, of government. Its purpose is to control The Majority strictly, as well as all others among the people, primarily to protect The Individual’s God-given, unalienable rights and therefore for the protection of the rights of The Minority, of all minorities, and the liberties of people in general. The definition of a Republic is: a constitutionally limited government of the representative type, created by a written Constitution with its powers divided between three separate Branches: Executive, Legislative and Judicial. Here the term "the people" means, of course, the electorate.
The people adopt the Constitution as their fundamental law by utilizing a Constitutional Convention to frame it for consideration and approval by them either directly or by their representatives in a Ratifying Convention, similarly chosen. Such a Constitutional Convention, for either framing or ratification, is one of America’s greatest contributions, if not its greatest contribution, to the mechanics of government--of self-government through constitutionally limited government, comparable in importance to America’s greatest contribution to the science of government: the formation and adoption by the sovereign people of a written Constitution as the basis for self-government.
This system of Constitution-making, for the purpose of establishing constitutionally limited government, is designed to put into practice the principle of the Declaration of Independence: that the people form their governments and grant to them only "just powers," limited powers, in order primarily to secure (to make and keep secure) their God-given, unalienable rights. The American philosophy and system of government thus bar equally the "snob-rule" of a governing Elite and the "mob-rule" of an Omnipotent Majority. This is designed, above all else, to preclude the existence in America of any governmental power capable of being misused so as to violate The Individual’s rights--to endanger the people’s liberties.
So why is it that I hear “Republicans” consistently asking for more centralized governmental power and less power to their local communities? It is the centralization of power to an elite Political Class to rule the many that greatly disturbs me. I hear “Republicans” asking for more regulation, higher taxes (although they may be less than that of their competition, they are still higher), heavy foreign intervention, breaks for special-interest groups and government programs to help “the many” (which truly is the very few)? Don't Republicans leave welfare up to the states as the highest form of government approved aid?--or better yet: leave it to one's neighbors? I ask that we all call it like it is: please, if you are a Democrat and you call yourself a Republican, PLEASE STOP!
...You know, I think I'm becoming a bit of a political activist! HA!
"We've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of government himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?"
--Ronald Reagan
"A republic, madam, if you can keep it."
--Benjamin Franklin
(After a woman approached Benjamin Franklin following the concluding session of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in the fall of 1787 asked what sort of government the delegates had come up with Ben Franklin responded.)
Short Clips On Forms of Government:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkOcFVBoA-o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z1buym2xUM
Josh's HEAVILY Propagandized Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-YcUcXSgvM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxO6i0khqhk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW4otVz8DdU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoNJQF97IvA
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