There’s an old story that Benjamin Franklin was approached after exiting the Constitutional Convention, and he was asked what sort of a government they had created. His response was, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Virtually everyone who learned anything from their middle school/junior high school government class learned that we are a Constitutional Republic, although now I wonder if everyone is actually taught this anymore.
Here’s what it says in the Constitution.
Article IV, Section 4: The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
Now, that doesn’t mean “Republican” in the party sense, but in the government sense.
This would all seem to be rather settled understanding, right?
But then there was a crazy segment from CNN where they suggested that MAGA people are peddling conspiracies by saying that our government is a “republic.”
CNN Special Correspondent Jamie Gangel posted about it.
CNN’s @jamiegangel and her colleagues at CNN are apparently ignorant of the fact that the United States of America is a constitutional republic. Truly sad. pic.twitter.com/KLuguOAlxM
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) June 14, 2024
She seems to have deleted the post after she was scolded by people.
But the CNN clip of the segment was much worse, it was truly wild. They seemed to try to rebut the fact that we are in fact a republic.
CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan explores why many MAGA Republicans are claiming that America is a republic, not a democracy. pic.twitter.com/XdMPBUXwX5
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) June 14, 2024
Regardless, O’Sullivan sat down for an interview with author Anne Applebaum and asked, “Is America a democracy?”
Applebaum claimed, “America is a democracy. It was founded as a democracy.” [….]
Nevertheless, O’Sullivan lamented, “I’ve heard a lot of conspiracy theories — I hear a lot of things out on the road. But to hear Americans — people who would describe themselves as patriots — say that America is not a democracy — that stopped me in my tracks.”
Seeing a grand conspiracy at work, Applebaum replied, “You are hearing people say America is not a democracy because there are people around Trump who want them to be saying that. Who have been planting that narrative.”
Applebaum even tried to claim there wasn’t much difference between the terms “republic” and “democracy.”
The Founders specifically rejected a pure democracy or direct democracy because they were concerned about mob rule. They wanted to protect individual liberties and minorities, they wanted a rule of law that would endure and protect those rights. Hence, while we can be called a representative democracy because the people elect their representatives — it is more accurate and specific to say a Constitutional Republic. That difference is very significant because while in a pure democracy, mob rule could take away your rights, in a Constitutional Republic, you have checks from the courts who will uphold the rule of law and protect individual liberties.
Indeed, if we just had a pure democracy, politicians would only ever reach out to the most populous states and urban areas and completely ignore the smaller states in order to win elections because that’s all they would need to do to hold control. But with things like the Electoral College, we ensure some greater balance. Those are just a couple of reasons why what we have is far superior to a pure democracy.
That’s what the MAGA people are referencing, so it’s not frightening or concerning at all. Nor is it a conspiracy from Trump or something that came from Fox, despite what CNN was pushing. It’s the basic foundational concept of our government, a better form of government. But CNN is trying to paint this as some kind of dangerous thought.
Here’s a good Prager University breakdown of the basic difference.
So this is truly a bizarre attempt by CNN to attack MAGA and Trump — and they should be ashamed of themselves. Of course, they won’t be. However, it’s CNN so probably not too many people even saw the wild report.
The better question is, why do Democrats seem to want to deem America a democracy and downplay or ignore the “Constitutional Republic” that we are? Are they just ignorant, or do they not know the difference? Or is there some more problematic movement going on here?
Let’s consider their actions. Biden and/or various Democrats have advocated ignoring, undermining, and/or doing away with fundamental aspects of our Constitutional Republic. We see Biden bragging about defying the Supreme Court, Democrats talking about packing the Court, or attacking justices because they don’t like how they rule. We saw Biden attacking SCOTUS on Saturday at his Los Angeles fundraiser. We have seen Democrats advocating to do away with republican checks like the Electoral College, one of the most important elements of our Constitution. We have seen Democrats trying to kick a political opponent off the ballot. We have seen lawfare targeted at the presidential candidate of the Republican Party. So much for “democracy.” It’s not Trump threatening the very nature of our government.
If Democrats succeed in getting rid of the Electoral College, they can completely skip Middle America and pitch to their base in New York and California. They can ignore those people Hillary termed “a basket deplorables,” and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) tried to term an “immoral majority.” Then so much for the interests of the other, smaller states.
But if kids are not taught the nature of our government, they will not know that we have these protections like the Electoral College or what they are about. They will be more easily bamboozled and untethered and more easily seduced into apostasies like Communism instead of celebrating the rule of law, which is what makes our nation special.
If they just hear “democracy,” they won’t understand we are so much more than that. Democrats appear to want to make us much less.
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