The United States is a Constitutional Republic and not a Democracy. This was an intentional decision by the authors of the Constitution.
A Democracy is a form of government in which the populace rules by voting. Legaldictionary.net defines two different kinds of Democracy: Representative Democracy and Direct Democracy.
When contrasting representative democracy with direct democracy, perhaps the most important distinction between the two is in the “representative” part of the first term. Simply put, in a representative democracy, individuals elect representatives to create and pass laws that are in line with the values they care about.
In a direct democracy, however, the individuals themselves vote on all of these issues, rather than electing a kind of middleman to do it for them. This would require that the people remain informed of the issues and proposed laws, then being available to vote on those issues each time they come up.1
Direct democracy can turn into “mobocracy” or a system where “the 51% take away the rights of the 49%.” A very colorful description of the dangers of direct democracy is captured in the statement that democracy is “two wolves and one lamb voting on what’s for dinner.”2
We correctly say that the US is not a Democracy; more specifically we are not a Direct Democracy. A Constitutional Republic is a type of Representative Democracy in which the “values” that the elected officials are supposed to follow are contained in a Constitution (as in the US). Here is a definition from legaldictionary.net.
A constitutional republic is a form of government in which the head of the state, as well as other officials, are elected by the country’s citizens to represent them. Those representatives must then follow the rules of that country’s constitution in governing their people.3
So as a Constitutional Republic we operate as a representational democracy but not a direct democracy.
The name of our country is “The United States of America.” We are a country that is composed of (presently) 50 sovereign States that are United by a Constitution that grants limited powers to a Federal government. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution states “The Congress shall have power …” and lists the 18 specific powers the Congress has. The 18 powers aren’t small things, but Congress is limited to only 18. Some examples are to lay and collect taxes, to borrow money, to regulate commerce with other nations, to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, to coin money, to establish post offices and to declare war. The following Section 9 includes a specific list of things Congress may not do such as not draw money from the Treasury unless an appropriation has been made, not granting any titles of nobility and not implementing an income tax.4
Section 4 states that “[t]he Congress shall assemble at least once every year,” suggesting that their work could be so limited that they may be tempted to let a year go by without meeting!5 That’s a far cry from the modern Congress that tries to control so much of what happens in the US and resists any attempts to reign it in.
The President’s role is to be the Commander and Chief of the Armed Forces, and appoint Ambassadors, Justices of the Supreme Court and other Officers with the advice and Consent of the senate, and have the executive power (to implement laws passed by Congress). Also a very limited role.
Article I, Section 10, is one place that limits States power, but that is only in the areas in which Congress or the President has been empowered, such as entering into treaties, lay import taxes or duties or engage in war (unless actually invaded).6
The Tenth Amendment, part of the Bill of Rights, clarifies States’ Rights in case there is any question:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
The Constitution envisions a nation of sovereign States, bound together for some limited purposes, with all powers not explicitly granted to the Federal Government being retained by the States or the people. This is a model of government that is very different than had been see before.7
As stated in the Declaration of Independence, it starts with the premise that
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The People have all the rights, those rights based solely on their being created by God. While the People have rights under God, the Declaration states that
to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
So not only do civil governments have only those powers bestowed on them by the people, the sole purpose of granting those powers to civil government is so that the civil government can secure those rights for the people.
This was contrary to the prevailing view of civil government in the Founders’ time, and I might add, contrary to the view of the Globalists and the Uniparty in our time. We need to stop thinking that we get any rights from civil government. The People have all the rights and it is the People who give limited power to Governments for the express purpose of securing those rights for them.
The US Constitution limits the power of the Federal Government to only those powers specifically granted to it by the people and those powers are granted for the sole purpose of securing the God given rights of the people.
For example, the Civil Government, or even the Constitution, does not give us the right of free speech. That right is given to us by God.8 The First Amendment merely clarifies that Congress (the Federal government)9 has no right to make any law prohibiting it. We need to stop saying “the first amendment gives us the right of free speech” but rather declare that we have a God given right to free speech, a right that cannot be infringed on by the government.
We have carefully always used the term “government” with an adjective (civil, State or Federal) in front of it. That is because the term “government” includes self-government, family government, church government and civil government. (See our post The True Meaning of Government for a complete explanation).
The other three forms of government rest on “self-government,” and each of these other three governments can only function effectively when the people under their rule are “self-governed.”
In the view of the Founders, freedom depended on religion and morality.
[I]t is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue. John Adams, Signer of the Declaration of Independence and Second President of the United States10
[O]nly a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. Benjamin Franklin, Signer of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence11.
In Part 2 we continued the discussion of our Constitutional Republic by examining the Constitutional processes for the election of Federal Officials.
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https://legaldictionary.net/representative-democracy/
All of these quotes have been attributed to one or more of the Founders but we have found no documentation that those attributions are correct.
https://legaldictionary.net/constitutional-republic/
Which limitation was removed by the Sixteenth Amendment, adopted in 1913, allowing income taxes.
Attorney Josh Prince, a recognized Constitutional and Bill of Rights lawyer, pointed this out to me.
It’s interesting to note that the Constitution, while reserving to the Federal Government the right to make war, made allowance for a State to engage in war if “actually invaded.”
While the Founders hadn’t seen it in practice, the representative government they established was based on the model described in Exodus 18:13-27. The Bible was oft quoted by the Founders in explaining their positions.
We can see why the Globalists and the Marxists have been so intent in destroying faith in God and removing the notion of God from our government and culture. We are created to believe in a “higher power” and without God, the government is more than happy to take on the role of the higher power that bestows rights on men.
The First Amendment states “Congress shall make no law …” because it is Congress that has that power in the Federal Government. Since the role of the Executive Branch and the Judicial Branch is merely to implement and interpret the laws made by Congress, placing this limitation of Congress is placing this limitation of the government as a whole.
Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, 1854), Vol. IX, p. 401, to Zabdiel Adams on June 21, 1776. As reported by wallbuilders.com
Source: Benjamin Franklin, The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, Jared Sparks, editor (Boston: Tappan, Whittemore and Mason, 1840), Vol. X, p. 297, April 17, 1787. As reported by wallbuilders.com
Very well said. This clarifies a lot for me. I’ve not heard it said that our freedoms are God given and it’s the government’s job to make sure we are able to exercise those freedoms. Excellent!