The “threat-to-democracy” warning surfaces every time something happens that displeases the most liberal progressives. Even a casual news watcher got an earful about their dissatisfaction with recent Supreme Court decisions. However, their reactionary, unlawful, and violent protests exemplify the mob rule that our Founders were hoping to prevent.
Democracy or Republic?
The Greek word “demos” means people, “kratia” means power, and “karatos” means rule. Depending on your translation, democracy means either rule by the people or power to the people. Either way, the point is, governance is in the hands of the people, as in ancient Greece around 500BC.
Pure democracy is majority rule or mobocracy with little protection for minority wishes. For Socrates, there were no particular rights guaranteed by a set of rules. When he fell out of favor with the majority, he was eliminated. Our Founders and the current Supreme Court recognized human frailty and knew that pure majority rule could ignore minority rights guaranteed in the Constitution.
Republic comes from the Latin word “res publica,” which means a public thing or matter. A republic provides a system of checks and balances between branches of government and uses a framework to describe and protect rights of minorities. Rome had a republic, also around 500 BC, until Julius Caesar took over and created an empire.
In a republic people elect representatives to make laws according to guidelines that protect specified rights. In a small country, people might vote directly on every law as in a democracy, but the Founders knew that would not work in a large and growing America.
A More Perfect Union
Fortunately, the men who wrote our Constitution had studied the classics and opted for the many protections of a republic. Some titles that describe our hybrid form of government include representative democracy, democratic republic, constitutional democracy and even “constitutional federal representative democracy.”
. . . what makes a modern democracy a true democracy is faithful adherence to a set of democratic principles: the rule of law (constitutionalism), representation based on free and fair elections, and guaranteed rights including freedom of speech, press and religion.
By that measure, some countries are democracies in name, but not in practice.
In Florida, Civics and US History Are More Important than Critical Race Theory
Citizens need to understand why and how our form of government was created and how it is subject to interpretation. For example, separation of powers does not only pertain to the three branches of government, it also includes unelected bureaucracies and state versus federal sovereignty. Students should not graduate from high school without a deep appreciation for the significant need for citizen participation.
Governor Ron DeSantis recently announced statistics on the “success of Florida’s approach to educating its students on the history of our country, the exceptional nature of our form of government, and the role they play as citizens of our Republic.”
One reason for this success is the Florida Civics and Debate Initiative, which will expand to all school districts for the upcoming school year. Learning to argue pros and cons of an issue gives students the confidence to speak up, stand up, and engage.
COS Strengthens Citizens
That’s what COS does for us. Adults can continue their civic education and participation with other concerned citizens as part of Convention of States. COS mobilizes citizens involved in self-governance, especially at the local level. We are currently highlighting school board elections because that is the most basic level of civic interaction. Our mission is to build a grassroots army engaged in protecting and nurturing our democratic Republic.
COS reminds citizens that Article V of our US Constitution provides for a nonpartisan way to alert federal officials that they have deviated too far from the will of the people. An Article V convention will be called by Congress when 34 states have passed a resolution proposing debate on the same three potential amendments: 1) term limits for federal officials 2) restraint of federal spending, and 3) limit federal bureaucratic rule making.
Florida and 18 other states have already passed such a resolution, but we need your help. Too many voters have no idea that there is a nonpartisan solution offered by the Constitution. Will you help us defend our democratic Republic?
