GP Academy Letter 250903: Down With Democracy!

I thought I’d share a little reality today about our present form of government in an article to appear in my newest book, “Wakeup Call: The Curious Person’s Uncomfortable Guide To Reality.”

"On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and complete narcissistic moron." — H.L. Mencken (1880-1956), journalist, satirist and social critic

So you think you live in a democracy, do you?

BZZZTTT! Sorry, you don't.

Please accept these lovely mental handcuffs plated in 24 carat Fool's Gold as our consolation prize and thank you for joining us on 'The Price Of Freedom Is Right.'

Every sitting president in this writer’s life has referred to America as a democracy.

Surely all of these chief executives of the most powerful nation in world history couldn’t possibly misunderstand the nature and character of the very government they lead… could they?

Have you heard the joke about a democracy being two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for breakfast?

Problem is, it's no joke. Especially when you're the one on the menu.

Americans are told from birth that we're all free because, well, America is a democracy.

But did you know that America is actually not a democracy, and never has been?

Remember how in school you pledged allegiance to the flag, and to the “republic” for which it stands?

That's right, America was founded as a republic.

And not just any old republic, but a constitutional republic under the rule of a written law, not the whims of bought-and-paid-for politicians.

All democracies throughout history have failed when a majority of the public discovered that they could vote themselves their “fair share” of the public purse.

Today we have the finest government that money can buy, and currently led by a billionaire!

Here is what James Madison, “Father of the Constitution,” had to say in the Federalist Papers No. 10 (1787):

"Hence it is that democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general have been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths... A republic, by which I mean a government in which a scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking."

John Adams chimed in with this in a letter to John Taylor, April 15, 1814:

“Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”

Even the American military knows the difference between a democracy and a republic (or used to, anyway).

The following is from Training Manual No. 2000-25 published by the War Department, November 30, 1928. 

“DEMOCRACY: A government of the masses. Authority derived through mass meeting or any other form of "direct" expression. Results in mobocracy. Attitude toward property is communistic--negating property rights. Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate, whether it be based upon deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences. Results in demagogism, license, agitation, discontent, anarchy.”

“REPUBLIC: Authority is derived through the election by the people of public officials best fitted to represent them. Attitude toward property is respect for laws and individual rights, and a sensible economic procedure. Attitude toward law is the administration of justice in accord with fixed principles and established evidence, with a strict regard to consequences. A greater number of citizens and extent of territory may be brought within its compass. Avoids the dangerous extreme of either tyranny or mobocracy. Results in statesmanship, liberty, reason, justice, contentment, and progress. Is the "standard form" of government throughout the world.”

What good news! You don’t live in a democracy, and you never have. You live in a constitutionally limited republic under the rule of law.

And the bad news? The United States appears to your author to be on an accelerating track toward extreme civil strife and, ultimately, internal dissolution along the lines of the old Soviet Union which broke up back in 1991.

What form of government will arise in America after this? No one has any idea.