Death to Democracy!

The third day of my seventh grade year some 25 years or more ago, I sat down to dinner with my family of six. You see, back in the "old days," families used to do such things. My father would sit at the head of the table like the director of a movie and assign speaking roles to my siblings and me. As we ate our evening repast and took turns discussing our day, my turn came. My father asked me how my classes went that day and I chose to discuss my American Government class. "What kind of government did your teacher say the United States is?" my father queried. "He said that we live in a democracy," I replied. My father's face turned red and his eyes grew wild with hate. He slammed his fist on the table and screamed "it's not a god d*mn democracy! It's a constitutional god d*mn republic!" My father got up and left the table to go stew in the other room and we never spoke of it again.

For many years after my father screamed at me about our form of government, I wondered what the big deal was. In school we learned how we live in a democracy and that democracy was an excellent form of government where the governed each have a voice and a vote. What could possibly be wrong with such a system? As long as every individual got a say in the matter, how could anything go wrong? I, like many others, had listened a little too closely to my teachers. Through most of my schooling, it was repeated over and over, we live in a democracy. Only one problem, a democracy is ruled by the people, a constitutional republic is ruled by law.

Many would argue that the laws are voted on by the people, so what's the difference if the people rule directly or the laws are followed that the people decided upon anyway? That is true now to a degree, however, it was never meant to be that way. You see, before the mid 1900s, half of the legislative branch was not elected by the people. The senators were not picked by popular vote, but rather the government of the states chose them. This made a huge difference in the makeup of the federal government. Instead of states getting a say, the lawmaking branch is entirely made up of citizen elected officers. Again, many people do not see a problem with this, but let me assure you, it is a bad plan. You see the framers of the constitution feared that one day the rule of law would be malformed. The constitution was so important to the forefathers; they made it very hard to change. Almost all congressmen pander to somebody. The House of Representatives pandered to the people and the Senate pandered to the states. It's all pandering, but at least it was different entities. Now, if the will of the people is to punish a certain segment of our citizenry, corporate leaders come to mind, they can. What the people do not realize is that there needs to be a balance of public will and state will. This is a government by the people and for the people yes, but no country has ever survived after the people made the realization that they can use the power of the government to satisfy the majority.

Our government was designed to protect against majority rule at the expense of the minority, or the individual. Some of the most glaring examples include some recent cases of eminent domain being used to seize property from owners to satisfy the majority. Another major case is the Patriot Act which has decimated some major elements of the constitution. Because the majority of people want to be protected from terrorism, citizens have potentially lost some very important rights including a reasonable right to privacy and the right against unreasonable search and seizure.

Looking back on my father's tirade those many years ago, I now understand his anger. He was just about my age now and coming to the horrible conclusion that the basic freedoms that Americans had come to expect were slipping away. He knew the evil of teachers spewing the government propaganda about it being a good thing that our freedoms were in the hands of the ever changing majority instead of a rock solid document that had stood for more than 200 years, our constitution. I now wonder if his antics were a calculated act to make a lasting impression upon me. If that was the case, it worked. I'll have to be ready when my son tells me that he learned about our democracy in school... Action!