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Republic vs. Democracy

  

For years the media has told us that we are a democratic nation and how they want us to promote a democratic way of life to other countries. Are we a truly a democratic nation? What was the intent of our founding fathers?

 

Our United States Constitution states in Art. 4 Sec. 4 Par. 1:

"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government." (Not a democracy.)

Our Pledge of Allegiance states -I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands

 

Currently our Pledge of Allegiance is under attack.  There are those who seek to reword it.  They want the words "under God" and "republic" to be removed.  They are attacking the whole pledge in hopes of having it abolished. This would cause people to forget their true heritage.

 As Benjamin Franklin was leaving the building where, after four months of hard work, the Constitution had been completed and signed, a lady asked him what kind of government did the convention create. A very old, very tired, and very wise Benjamin Franklin replied; "A Republic, ma'am if you can keep it."

 

What's the difference between a republic vs. a democracy?

 

Republic - It is 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 governed according to law. Laws that are absolute and cannot be changed set a republic. The body works within those guidelines.

Democracy - Is by direct majority vote of the people. When an issue is to be decided, the entire population votes on it; the majority wins and rules. A democracy is ruled by majority feeling, what the Founding Fathers described as "mobocracy". For example: in a democracy, if a majority of the people decides that murder is no longer a crime, murder will no longer be a crime. As in the case of abortion in a Republic, murder will always be a crime, because it is an absolute law.

None of our founding fathers wanted a democracy!

Warning from some of our Founding Fathers

Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence - " a simple democracy ... is one of the greatest of evils."

James Madison, U.S. President "Democracies, in general, have been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."

John Adams, signer and U.S. President- "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."

John Quincy Adams, U.S. President "The experience of all former ages had shown that of all human governments, democracy was the most unstable, fluctuating and short-lived."

 

What was the source of law for the American republic?

The preamble of the Declaration of Independence mentions "...the Law of Nature and of Nature's God" This is in direct reference to the Bible.

According to founder Noah Webster "Our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament, or the Christian religion."

Isaiah 33:22 is the source of our republican principles. It states that the "Lord is our King, the Lord is our Judge and the Lord is our Lawgiver." 

Our Founding Fathers gave us an Electoral College because we were a republic, not a democracy. The Electoral College follows the principle of elected representation. It was designed to further promote the ideals of balance and of separation of powers. It gives the smaller states true representation in a fair and just manner by allowing their voices, as well as rural America, to be heard. It prevents the control of the nation by highly populated urban centers, thus reducing the risk of elections being bought or won by fraud where power could be consolidated.

"If a Republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect their divine commands and elect bad men to make and administer laws."

President James A. Garfield

James Madison, Father of the U.S. Constitution - "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."

George Washington, father of our country - "It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible."

John Hancock, signer of the Declaration of Independence - "The very existence of the Republic...depends much upon the public institutions of religion."             

Maybe our Founding Fathers chose a republic over a democracy because they remembered the most infamous "democratic" vote in all history. The lesson of a bureaucrat many years ago who turned to a crowd and asked which prisoner should be released - the crowd yelled - "give us Barabbas". The will of the people spoke that day. When the bureaucrat asked the people what should be done with this innocent man, this Jesus, the crowd responded with a loud cry, "CRUCIFY HIM!"

A democracy can override any law.  Jesus was crucified by a majority vote even though they broke 17 laws exercising pure democracy to put him on the cross. This is the reason our founding fathers wanted a republic, a government based on the rule of law which could not be changed by the whims of the people.  

The Greek philosopher Socrates was put to death by majority vote. He was not guilty of any human law that was worthy of death, but because a majority of men decided that he should die, he was put to death.

 

 

Let us learn from history about democracy Vs republic!

·        Democracy started in Greece and it destroyed Greece. It promoted that every person did right which was according to his own way.

·        A democracy dictates that what is right for you may not be right for someone else. This is better known as situational ethics.

·        A republic teaches that there are absolute rules in which all people must obey regardless of their status of life. This is why the Bible and everything else connected with it has been removed from our public schools. 

·        Rome started out as a republic, and then went to a democracy, then to a dictatorship. She now ceases to be a world power.

·        The United States started out as a republic that was governed by the principals of scripture which is evident in our early writings. Now, we promote a democratic way of life. Will she go as the other nations have gone or will she return to her republic roots?

·        Frances Bellemy, who was a Baptist minister, wrote the Pledge of Allegiance. Our government, at that time, did not have a problem with a pastor influencing our country.  

Democracy or Republic

Which one do you want to live under?

 

 

 

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