t was on September 17, 1787 that our rule of law, the US Constitution was signed in Philadelphia. History tells us of an exchange that occurred outside of Independence Hall between Benjamin Franklin and a Philadelphia socialite, Mrs. Powell. Mrs. Powell inquired of Mr. Franklin, “well, what is it that we have, a monarchy or a republic”? Mr. Franklin replied, famously, “a Republic, if you can keep it”.
That was the challenge of 230 years ago, and now we must ask ourselves, do we truly want to keep this Constitutional Republic. However, there is a greater question, how many people know what it means to live in a Constitutional Republic? America is not a democracy. The means by which we elect our representation is through a democratic process of voting. Therefore we are a representative democracy. Sadly, this was something once taught in High School civics, hardly the case today.
…
If we are to keep this Republic, maybe we should study, and go back to our fundamental principles…then again, Barack Obama did say we were “five days away from fundamentally changing the United States of America”. If there is one thing I admired about Barack Obama, he did tell us who he was and what he wanted to do, he did not want to keep our Republic.
…
What must happen? First of all, the American people must accept Franklin’s challenge and take seriously those whom we elect to public office. Taking the oath of office cannot be seen as some cursory mumbling of words, it is something that must be embraced. True liberty comes when the individual is elevated over the institution of government, our Founding Fathers recognized that premise and created something the world had never known, or seen, but needed. The words of Scottish political philosopher, Alexander Fraser Tytler, were so prescient, and relevant to where we are today in our Constitutional Republic, America.
He said, “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
- Discussion
-
Ask yourself today, what are you doing to keep this Republic, that is if you want to? And where in the cycle articulated by Tytler do you see the American Republic…that we are individually responsible to keep.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.