Introduction
During the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, a lady asked Benjamin Franklin whether we had a republic or a monarchy. He replied: “A republic if you can keep it.” (Keep in mind that a democracy is essentially a republic where the citizens vote reigns supreme.) This lady’s question is the destiny determining one that currently confronts the American citizenry. There are a substantial number who are working toward a monarchy which is only a different name for an economic imperialist oligarchy – a group of people who run the government for the sake of economic profit.
A recent poll showed that a large number of Americans would not fight if invaded by Russia. This should not be surprising. People fight for what they believe in. If you prefer a despotism over a democracy you will welcome the arrival of the despot. And it is obvious that close to half of the current citizenry is so inclined. The bottom-line question provoked by this scenario is: “Why would an American citizen prefer living in a despotism over living in a democracy?”
Some pundits are suggesting that the primary need in America is a return to civility – relating through tolerance, truthfulness, and mutual respect. However, these attitudes are symptoms of democratic perspective. Their increase could only happen with a renewed commitment to the foundation of democracy – the mutual worth, the common good, and the majority rule of the citizenry.
What is needed is an understanding of both the nature of democracy and the manner of its rule in America. And neither of these is understood with clarity in our culture. Moreover, even if the nature of democracy were clearly understood, the structures of democracy were designed, wittingly or unwittingly, to militate against its representational nature. And that is a major problem.
I have written the next three blogs to show this oxymoronic state and I will follow these with a fourth one that will express my personal view as to the only way democracy will survive in America.
