What's become of our great republic?
By
Rory Ryan-hcpress@cinci.rr.com
The next time you listen to the president of the United States give a speech or an interview about American government, do me a favor and count the number of times he refers to our “democracy.”
The next time you listen to a president of the United States give a speech or an interview about foreign policy, do me a favor and count the number of times he refers to establishing a “democracy.”
President Obama is bad about this, but President G.W. Bush was perhaps the worst.
The United States of America is not a democracy. It never was, nor should it ever be.
Just in time for the beginning of the new school year, today’s government lesson is short and sweet. For all students who can correctly inform their respective history or government teachers that the United States is, was, and always ought to be a Republic, you receive an A for the day, courtesy of The Highland County Press.
We “pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands…”
Our Republic form of government guarantees that the power belongs to the people, either directly or through representatives chosen by the people.
By definition, in a true Democracy, the power rests with the majority. In other words, the minority has no rights – only privileges granted by the majority.
The simplest test case for Republic vs. Democracy appears in the courtroom.
If America were a democracy, a jury could convict the accused by a simple majority vote. It can’t.
When the judge puts “12 in a box,” each juror’s vote counts. Even if 11 of the 12 jurors agree, one dissenting juror can save the accused from the hangman’s noose (figuratively speaking) or the doctor’s lethal injection.
But when even U.S. presidents either don’t know or refuse to acknowledge that the Founders gave us a republic – if we can keep it – is it any wonder that the tired masses are clueless about our own form of government?
In his 2008 book, “An American Family, the Buckleys,” noted author, speaker and educator Reid Buckley offers this dim view of what’s left of our great republic: “The American people have chosen a comprehensive welfare state at the cost of the philosophy of the founding fathers.”
Buckley, the brother of the late William F. Buckley, adds that our popular culture has become “the lowest common denominator of vicarious vice.”
“We do not like to entertain the possibility that this beloved land has become unlovable, its people vile and servile, its governing institutions corrupt, its Congress cowardly, and its vision materialistic, solipsistic, and on almost all counts contemptible.”
Mr. Buckley’s comments bring to mind one of the many great quotes by the founding fathers, in this case, by Thomas Jefferson: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
The nation’s founders are often ridiculed in today’s academic elite circles. In fact, a recent commencement speaker at a local college graduation ceremony inserted his own little collective rebuke of the founding fathers. The joke received the expected laughter. (After all, what good is a college education if you can’t make fun of those who came before you, defied a king and the king’s army and secured the personal freedoms you’ve enjoyed throughout your life – to this point in time?)
But I’d love to quiz those college boys and girls – and their instructors – on the brave 56. The four and a half dozen men who pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor in the forming of a nation.
Of those brave 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence:
• Nine died of wounds during the Revolutionary War.
• Five were captured and imprisoned by the British.
• Several lost their wives, sons and daughters – including one who lost all of his children.
• Twelve signers of the Declaration had their homes burned to he ground.
• Seventeen signers lost everything they owned.
Still, not one of the Brave 56 defected or went back on his word.
Incredibly, at least by today’s standards, they did this without television, telephones, radio or the Internet. They didn’t have social media networks. They didn’t have Facebook. They didn’t use Twitter. They didn’t email. They didn’t text.
They formed a new nation in which all men are created equal. Within three generations and after four wars, all men were created equal. A remarkable accomplishment given world history prior to July 4, 1776.
After 235 years, are we now seeing the beginning of the end of our once noble republic?
Think about it. When a distinguished scholar like 81-year-old Reid Buckley says America’s people have become vile and servile, our governing institutions corrupt, our Congress cowardly, and our vision materialistic, solipsistic, and contemptible, who can argue?
Certainly not the road-rage motorist who is all too quick with the one-digit salute.
Certainly not the first-of-the-month mailbox worshiper who is his family’s third-generation gift to society.
Certainly not corporate America who buys politicians like working men buy steel-toed boots and Lava soap. Certainly not our cowardly Congress who sleep with lobbyists and corporate elitists for spousal and family favors.
We have, for lack of a better description, become an ubi est mea (where’s mine?) society.
The bottom feeders want their monthly welfare and food stamp card. They want their taxpayer-funded home improvements. The comforted elitists just want more. More money. More power. More influence. They want access highways from the interstate to their own personal harbors on the Gulf Coast. (See Lee County, Florida.) They want bridges to nowhere. (See Alaska.) They want lucrative contracts for their spouse’s business. (See Congress. And you don’t have to look past Ohio to see the effect.)
It begins on the local level, too. We see wannabe politicians clearly gaming the system even before election day. Do we care? Hell, no. For Republicans, as long as it’s a Republican lining his pockets, it’s acceptable. The same holds true for Democrats. (There are sufficient examples in the nation, the state, the county and the city.)
How did this happen?
There are two and only two culprits: Ignorance and Apathy. In other words, as long as we get ours, we are happy not to know and not to care about the sacrifice and suffering of the founding fathers.
Remember this, in a Republic, the people have no obligation to the government. The government being hired by the people, is obliged to the people.
Americans would be wise to wake up to this founding fact. As Thomas Jefferson said, “Liberty and ignorance cannot co-exist.”
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]
The next time you listen to a president of the United States give a speech or an interview about foreign policy, do me a favor and count the number of times he refers to establishing a “democracy.”
President Obama is bad about this, but President G.W. Bush was perhaps the worst.
The United States of America is not a democracy. It never was, nor should it ever be.
Just in time for the beginning of the new school year, today’s government lesson is short and sweet. For all students who can correctly inform their respective history or government teachers that the United States is, was, and always ought to be a Republic, you receive an A for the day, courtesy of The Highland County Press.
We “pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands…”
Our Republic form of government guarantees that the power belongs to the people, either directly or through representatives chosen by the people.
By definition, in a true Democracy, the power rests with the majority. In other words, the minority has no rights – only privileges granted by the majority.
The simplest test case for Republic vs. Democracy appears in the courtroom.
If America were a democracy, a jury could convict the accused by a simple majority vote. It can’t.
When the judge puts “12 in a box,” each juror’s vote counts. Even if 11 of the 12 jurors agree, one dissenting juror can save the accused from the hangman’s noose (figuratively speaking) or the doctor’s lethal injection.
But when even U.S. presidents either don’t know or refuse to acknowledge that the Founders gave us a republic – if we can keep it – is it any wonder that the tired masses are clueless about our own form of government?
In his 2008 book, “An American Family, the Buckleys,” noted author, speaker and educator Reid Buckley offers this dim view of what’s left of our great republic: “The American people have chosen a comprehensive welfare state at the cost of the philosophy of the founding fathers.”
Buckley, the brother of the late William F. Buckley, adds that our popular culture has become “the lowest common denominator of vicarious vice.”
“We do not like to entertain the possibility that this beloved land has become unlovable, its people vile and servile, its governing institutions corrupt, its Congress cowardly, and its vision materialistic, solipsistic, and on almost all counts contemptible.”
Mr. Buckley’s comments bring to mind one of the many great quotes by the founding fathers, in this case, by Thomas Jefferson: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
The nation’s founders are often ridiculed in today’s academic elite circles. In fact, a recent commencement speaker at a local college graduation ceremony inserted his own little collective rebuke of the founding fathers. The joke received the expected laughter. (After all, what good is a college education if you can’t make fun of those who came before you, defied a king and the king’s army and secured the personal freedoms you’ve enjoyed throughout your life – to this point in time?)
But I’d love to quiz those college boys and girls – and their instructors – on the brave 56. The four and a half dozen men who pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor in the forming of a nation.
Of those brave 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence:
• Nine died of wounds during the Revolutionary War.
• Five were captured and imprisoned by the British.
• Several lost their wives, sons and daughters – including one who lost all of his children.
• Twelve signers of the Declaration had their homes burned to he ground.
• Seventeen signers lost everything they owned.
Still, not one of the Brave 56 defected or went back on his word.
Incredibly, at least by today’s standards, they did this without television, telephones, radio or the Internet. They didn’t have social media networks. They didn’t have Facebook. They didn’t use Twitter. They didn’t email. They didn’t text.
They formed a new nation in which all men are created equal. Within three generations and after four wars, all men were created equal. A remarkable accomplishment given world history prior to July 4, 1776.
After 235 years, are we now seeing the beginning of the end of our once noble republic?
Think about it. When a distinguished scholar like 81-year-old Reid Buckley says America’s people have become vile and servile, our governing institutions corrupt, our Congress cowardly, and our vision materialistic, solipsistic, and contemptible, who can argue?
Certainly not the road-rage motorist who is all too quick with the one-digit salute.
Certainly not the first-of-the-month mailbox worshiper who is his family’s third-generation gift to society.
Certainly not corporate America who buys politicians like working men buy steel-toed boots and Lava soap. Certainly not our cowardly Congress who sleep with lobbyists and corporate elitists for spousal and family favors.
We have, for lack of a better description, become an ubi est mea (where’s mine?) society.
The bottom feeders want their monthly welfare and food stamp card. They want their taxpayer-funded home improvements. The comforted elitists just want more. More money. More power. More influence. They want access highways from the interstate to their own personal harbors on the Gulf Coast. (See Lee County, Florida.) They want bridges to nowhere. (See Alaska.) They want lucrative contracts for their spouse’s business. (See Congress. And you don’t have to look past Ohio to see the effect.)
It begins on the local level, too. We see wannabe politicians clearly gaming the system even before election day. Do we care? Hell, no. For Republicans, as long as it’s a Republican lining his pockets, it’s acceptable. The same holds true for Democrats. (There are sufficient examples in the nation, the state, the county and the city.)
How did this happen?
There are two and only two culprits: Ignorance and Apathy. In other words, as long as we get ours, we are happy not to know and not to care about the sacrifice and suffering of the founding fathers.
Remember this, in a Republic, the people have no obligation to the government. The government being hired by the people, is obliged to the people.
Americans would be wise to wake up to this founding fact. As Thomas Jefferson said, “Liberty and ignorance cannot co-exist.”
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]