TAMPA, March 19, 2012 – Give yourself a test. Without doing a web search or whipping out that pocket U.S. Constitution that a wild-eyed Tea Partier handed you, fill in the blank in the following sentence: The U.S. Constitution guarantees to every state in the union a _____form of government.
If you are like ninety percent of the American electorate, you answered “democratic” and you were wrong. The answer is “a republican form of government.” There is an important difference between the two and one would think that the Republican Party would know it. Instead, they are identical to their rivals in not only ignoring the distinction but promoting democracy instead.
In a democracy, the will of the majority is the law. Fifty-one percent of the vote empowers the winners to exercise any power they wish. Not so in a republic. The reason that the founders constructed a constitutional republic was to protect Americans from democracy.
That may sound like sacrilege to most 21st century Americans, but it’s true. Benjamin Franklin mused that democracy was like “two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner.” Thomas Jefferson said that when majorities oppress an individual they “break up the foundations of society.”
Republicanism is the logical form of government for conservatives. Conservatism at its best protects property rights from an unchecked majority plundering the individual. Liberalism at its best protects property rights from the wealthy conspiring with the government to plunder the masses. At their worst, both conservatism and liberalism legitimize plunder; the former for the few, the latter for the many.
Ron Paul’s presidential campaign strategy is rooted in republicanism. He has deliberately focused his efforts on the states that hold caucuses instead of primaries because caucuses do not let the majority rule unchecked. Instead of merely pulling a few levers behind a curtain, caucus participants must complete a multi-tiered process that occurs for months after the popular vote before being chosen for the national convention. Who can doubt that these delegates are more informed than the typical primary voter? The essence of republicanism is for reason to triumph over the transient passion of the majority.
Paul’s platform likewise represents what is best about conservatism. Without exception, it protects the individual from oppression by the majority. He is the only Republican presidential candidate that has actually said the words “role of government” during any debate. That’s because he is the only candidate that seems to recognize that the government’s role is limited; that even a majority vote cannot sanction it to exercise power beyond those limits. Throughout all of human history, conservatives have defended this principle against the ungoverned passion of the majority.
Yet, conservatives today sound just like liberals when they decry Paul’s supporters using the republican nature of the caucuses to overturn the decisions of uninformed majorities. Their opposition to both Paul’s platform and his political strategy begs the question: Does the Republican Party still believe in a republican form of government? Do they still believe that the power of the majority has limits? Or are they just Democrats with a different supporter base?
George W. Bush never once referred to the United States of America as “a republic.” He consistently referred to it as “a democracy” and like Woodrow Wilson claimed to be defending democracy all over the world. If he was representative of what the Republican Party now stands for, then how is it substantively different from the Democratic Party?
These same questions apply to the issues. If the Republican Party truly favors the big government alternatives to Ron Paul, candidates who all supported the expansion of the federal government in the past and who refuse to commit to any meaningful cuts now, then what is the debate about?
The federal government doesn’t need a manicure. It needs reconstructive surgery. Make that deconstructive surgery. You don’t turn $1.5 trillion deficits into surpluses by tweaking the way that federal departments are managed. You do so by completely eliminating departments and redefining the role of government. Only Ron Paul is proposing to do so. If there is anything left of what made the Republican Party different from the Democrats, they should support both Ron Paul’s platform and his political strategy.
Tom Mullen is the author of Where Do Conservatives and Liberals Come From? And What Ever Happened to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness? Part One and A Return to Common Sense: Reawakening Liberty in the Inhabitants of America.
Very true and by observation they were very specific weren’t they? Then there is the party issue which is simply a game of sides to oppose each other over the constitution which some were very fond of such an idea. Many people miss the basics of history which by the way was Documented proof and stated as so as observable truths. Most have no clue what it is they support because they do not recognize themselves as life, living entities that create ideas and decide which is pitiful. Yet we were given the most unique document of its kind in all the histories and we have no clue what it is for. It is this simple, it was created for choice making, a basis to choose with. A guide, a foundation, a clear set of instructions to follow and it is backed by the constitution to support the Liberty concept within it.
All three of these men gave Thomas Jefferson the tools, the resources and the ability to write the Declaration of Independence. Their own discussions help facilitate this basis, this foundation, this guide. Nowhere has any document been of such clear detail to support the very thing we are, LIFE. It is a masterpiece of genuine truth telling like none before it and in its original draft was no more than documented truths. Today most do not even include it with the Constitution but refuse to look and see if the Declaration of Independence did not exist there would be no reason for a Constitution. One document supports the other document in choice making. Like tools we use to fix cars, we have these tools to decide and to keep in place Liberty to allow life the experiences it is able to create for itself. It is only a few others that clearly are intent on opposing this way of life at all.
It is not a Republican party, it is a Republic way of Life where you live ideas that support such an idea. This means you use these documents for the intended purposes to decide WITH.
I have officially found two distinct ways of life and they are;
A Republic way of life which by all activity and supporting ideas supports all life. In order for this to take place Liberty is a must, to be free of intrusive governments and the likes. When these rules are followed and Government is limited to these, Liberty is in existence and when we refuse to enforce these rules do the warnings in the Declaration of Independence come alive. Thinking it is any more than this or any less is plain old thinking with no investigation what so ever.
The Other way of Life is the Rule way of Life which is wealth, finance, secrecy, war and destructive activities. This way is to control and manipulate life, to restrict its capabilities and eventually destroys itself in every case because it is unsustainable. You have to be willing to do something constructive to sustain life. Stealing it blind only takes from, killing their own source of survival.
Anyone of you may argue this, please be my guest but it is as true as I write here and the truth will not go away. The reason our enemy has such strength and us so much weakness is simple, they apply and decide based upon their principals of power and authority.
We on the other hand let our documents lay dormant with no clue on what they were for. In fact if you used the Declaration of Independence as the guide the constitution needs no interpretation and flows in total support for liberty and life and when it is refused so is our ability to achieve our Republic way of life. Our shame is simply ours for our refusal to recognize simple truth. Mostly because we are caught up in the ideas of our opposition. We were warned of the schemes of the financiers yet each and everyone of you will not let it go, thus they hold authority. Economic theory was built on their philosophy, their way of life and because we are un willing to recognize this truth we fall victim to our own ignorance and not our strength of the knowledge we were given.
The sad part is we can still save it if we only focus on the path we are to take as directed or perish in the path of our opposition and the story continues on. Nothing takes place without decision, NOTHING.
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