http://www.nationalcouncilofcensors.org/blog A Republic.........If You Can Keep It......... Tue, 10 Aug 2010 21:53:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://www.nationalcouncilofcensors.org/blog/?p=117 http://www.nationalcouncilofcensors.org/blog/?p=117#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 21:53:52 +0000 Glenn http://www.nationalcouncilofcensors.org/blog/?p=117 Since the Constitution has become in vogue, I have been asked by several people what, in my opinion, form of Government do we have?  Are the words “Democracy” and “Republic” synonymous?  To answer concisely, we have a “Republic” form of government and the words “Democracy” and “Republic” are not synonymous.  When the framers wrote the Constitution, they could have chosen from several forms of governments, viz, Monarchy (governed by one individual), Oligarchy (governed by an elite few), Democracy (governed by a simple majority), or a Republic (governed by law).   As evidenced by Article IV, Section 4:  “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government” the framers chose a “Republic” form of government.  Likewise, Article VI, Section 2 states:  “The Constitution……shall be the supreme Law of the Land…….”.
Legend has it when Benjamin Franklin was leaving the Constitution Convention, a lady cried out: “Mr. Franklin, what have you wrought (in other words what type of government have you given the people?). Mr. Franklin replied: “A Republic, if you can keep it.”  Lastly, the word “Democracy” does not appear in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution.

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