Have you thought lately about all the different forms of government that a people can subject themselves to or to which they are subjugated? The one we are most familiar with is, of course, democracy. Most of us know what that means, but a sizable portion of our citizens think that is our form of government. It isn’t. We are not a democracy; we are in fact a republic. So, when you hear politicians drone on about saving our “democracy,” they are mistaken. What they should be saying is save our “republic.”
Indeed, our founders made the distinction clear in the voluminous Federalist Papers when they insisted on a republic, pointing out that rule by pure democracy, literally rule of the people, can descend quickly into rule by mob. They were students of the Greek historian Polybius who defined what he termed anacyclosis, a constant cycle of revolutions. The founders also studied Plato and his “orders” of society. These included rule by one (monarchy), rule by a few (aristocracy), and rule by many (democracy). All bore risks.
From Polybius’ vantage point, primitive man—wary of the dangers of the world—sought out strong leaders to protect society. As men began to conceive of justice, they then looked for a just leader and when he died, they would yield to his son. Monarchies were born. When that “order” deteriorated into dictatorship, men sought the “rule of the best” or an aristocracy to bring order. However, when the children of aristocrats also failed to follow the good example of their fathers, aristocracy slid downward into oligarchy, the rule of the rich over a growing poor. That would lead to calls for democracy that—when not properly configured—evolved into mob rule, and then anarchy would occur. In time, people frustrated with the chaos and violence would call for a dictator to set things straight, completing a destructive anacyclosis cycle that Polybius predicted would repeat itself ad nauseum if not interrupted.
Polybius’ solution was to assign equal amounts of power to the three “orders” of society—the monarchy, the aristocracy, and democracy—to circumvent the “cycle of discord,” which would be inevitable, unless interrupted by balancing and distributing power among them. This lesson is precisely what the drafters of the Constitution accomplished in the construct they advanced, with separate and balanced powers, not only among the three Federal branches—legislative, judicial, and executive—but also between the Federal government and the several states. To stop anacyclosis required a republic with a written Constitution and representative governance accountable to the people. Today the state of our republic is gravely threatened.
Unfortunately, another form of government has ascended: an unelected bureaucracy. We are now in many ways ruled by a hierarchy of faceless government employees who are unaccountable to anyone except other bureaucrats. Moreover, Congress and the President have avoided their Constitutional responsibilities by outsourcing law-making to bureaucrats who almost always twist the law to further empower—you got it—the bureaucracy! The favorite tactic of bureaucrats dealing with citizens is to simply point to some regulation that the bureaucracy created inside a regulatory rule-making process, which they completely control. It’s truly a self-licking ice cream cone. Why have we allowed this aggregation of power by bureaucrats to bypass constitutional law-making?
If the bureaucracy were our only challenge, a representative government could bring it to heel. Sadly, there’s another threat to our freedom and indeed our republic. It’s called idiocracy, or rule by idiots.
Consider those in the elected idiocracy. These are the people who think that free speech means not saying or writing anything that would offend anybody. That any expression of opinion must not be something a listener or reader would find disagreeable or possibly odious. Oh really? Do you suppose these brilliant people have ever read the Declaration of Independence where the colonial authors called King George III a tyrant? Heaven forbid that they come across the reference in that same declaration to “merciless Indian savages.” No doubt they would have to seek refuge in safe spaces to recover from their shock, with little regard for Declaration’s context and purpose when it was written.
And of course, how can we ignore those in this idiocracy who think it’s the government’s role to provide an income to everyone, even if they are not working for it. Moreover, what of those who think it’s fair and just for people living today to pay reparations for the sins of people who are long dead and buried? They seem to approve of justice for some that derives from injustice for many.
Where did all this idiocy come from? Well, it came from the same place that produces a society that thinks we’re simply a democracy, when in fact we are a republic. Taxpayer-funded inculcated ignorance.
0 Comments