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THE VIEW FROM HERE - The founding fathers created a republic because they detested democracies as one step away from tyranny. Right now, America is witnessing why a Republic is crucial to our way of life – life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.
If we were a democracy, Matt Gaetz would be Attorney General, Pete Hegseth with be Secretary of Defense, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., would be the next head of Department of Health and Human Services. There would be no way to stop any of these appointments if we were a democracy.
Why Politicians Prefer a Democracy
Why do politicians claim that America is a democracy? Answer: They have a power lust to do whatever they wish.
Since there is no rule of law in a democracy other than what the voters decide, there is no mechanism to stop a President from doing whatever he desires. The Dems ignored the Constitution when it rammed the racist Woke DEI down the throats of colleges, businesses, and government. Without telling the voters, the Dems just assumed that they had a mandate to do whatever they wanted with no checks and balances as found in a republic. Likewise, Pelosi trashed her Constitutional duties twice when she withheld crucial evidence in both Trump’s impeachments. Donald Trump’s appointment of horribly unqualified people like Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, and RFK, Jr. by declaring that he has a mandate had the potential to result in a Constitutional disaster.
There is a weakness in a republic – the constitutional checks and balances require that elected representatives be persons of honor who place the Constitution ahead of their careers. The Dems repeatedly failed while under the sway of Nancy Pelosi. There is a lurking issue whether Pres. Obama and Pres. Biden made secret deals with Iran with rose to the level of treaties without the advice and the consent of the Senate. One would think that with Trump’s ego-centric nature and his readiness to attack anyone who has any loyalty to the Constitution rather than to him personally that the GOP would crumble. They did not – so far. Let’s hope that the GOP Senators retain their integrity and fulfill their constitutional duty under the Advice and Consent clause.
Trump’s desire to do away with FBI checks is a direct attack on the Advice and Consent Clause. He wants to make certain that the extreme lack of qualifications, and at times, the lack of character are withheld from the Senators so that they get to hear only whatever Trump wants them to hear. Then, they will rubber stamp all his nominations. That attitude is one of a dictator, of a king, or of a tyrant. The founders, however, knew that power by itself corrupts. Thus, the role of the Republic is to check power in order to prevent our rights from being trampled. In fact, this principle starts in the Declaration of Independence. Inalienable individual rights are limited by the government whose duty is to protect those rights for everyone – the proverbial saying that one person’s rights end at this neighbor’s nose. The two part goal requires a government which prevents one power center from running roughshod over another.
Because the number one threat to liberty is the accumulation of power, the Republic was established with checks and counter-balances. The claim that Trump has a right to have whomever he desires to be in his government is expressly forbidden by the Advice and Consent Clause. Const. Art II, Sec 2, Clause 2. His appointments are null and void without the Senate’s advice and consent. No President has the right to have whomever he wants.
The country should be relieved that the Republicans in the Senate have, so far, been doing their constitutional duty. It would also be an act of patriotism if all elected officials started referring to the USA as a “republic” as stated in the pledge of allegiance rather than as a democracy. Power mongers always favor a democracy because then whatever voters decide is the law, which means there is no overriding rule of law, i.e. inalienable rights. Both political parties prefer that we were a democracy because then they can win an election by less than 2% and claim a mandate to do whatever they wish.
With the present Supreme Court, America is in a more precarious position than people realize. The decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022), denied that women had federal inalienable rights, but instead, women had to rely on the whims of the voters in each state. The Dobbs decision was patterned after Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), which similarly held that Blacks did not have federal inalienable rights, but were subject to the whims of the voters for each state. Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) likewise denied that Blacks had federal inalienable rights. Rather it invented the concept of equality of outcome – if Black children did worse in segregated schools than White children, then segregation was unlawful. That decision also supported the notion that if Blacks did as well under “separate but equal,” then segregation would be lawful. Without the Brown Decision there would be no basis for Woke DEI which is based on Equality of Outcome. If minorities do not do as well as Whites, then racism is the sole explanation and Blacks must be advanced on the basis of race.
A republic protects the freedoms which we Americans cherish. We would do well to remember that America is a republic and for us to re-learn how the Republic protects us.
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected])
