Democracy or Not?

What is the USA?

Generally it really annoys me when someone is extremely fussy about the exact definition of a word. My father used to do this to me all the time. You couldn’t hold a normal conversation with him because he would pick apart and fuss about the exact definitions of words to the point where you forgot what you were talking about.

Unfortunately Liberals / The Left promote democracy as if it was a good thing and insist that the USA is a democracy (or at least was before Trump was elected). While Conservatives / The Right make a big deal about the USA government not being a democracy (usually it’s called a Constitutional Republic).

So we do need to get to what the word democracy actually means! This word comes from Greek “demokratia” which breaks down into “demos” (people) and “kratia” (rule). Thus essentially meaning that the people hold the power.

Well, I think you’ve been sniffing too much of a toxic substance if you think people hold the power in the modern USA.

We can argue “but the people elect the rulers”. Sure, but even if the elections are fair (keep in mind that it’s the major party apparatus that selects the candidates), do you think your representatives actually represent your interests? It’s beating a dead horse again, but in my opinion the most optimistic interpretation has to be that our politicians represent those who donate large amounts of money to their campaigns and the big money lobby factions that pressure for certain legislation.

It’s been said, the best investment you can make is to spend money on politics. Money Morning published an article identifying a study that found two hundred companies that were most politically active spent $5.8 billion and received $4.4 trillion in benefits over six years. That’s an astounding 760 to 1 return on investment! That’s 126 to 1 per year! I challenge you to pick any stock that will provide you with that kind of return! Even my purchase of Amazon stock hasn’t profited me that much!

https://moneymorning.com/2016/10/05/how-corporations-turn-1-of-political-spending-into-a-760-windfall-at-your-expense/

That’s not democracy! That’s not the people having the power. That’s big spending corporations having (political) power.

For a moment, let’s pretend our elected representatives actually somehow represent a democratic ideal. We still have the huge problem, which the founding fathers worked very hard to prevent, a pure democracy is majority rule and does not protect the interests of the individuals with minority opinions.

Thus we were given a constitution. Or as the conservatives like to say a “Constitutional Republic”. So for the Republic part, we democratically elect representatives. The key is the Constitution part where our constitution limits the powers of the government (so they can’t abuse individuals).

Unfortunately our education system has been very lacking and fails to teach the context and intent of the constitution. A key here is that the government is not allowed to do anything which isn’t specifically allowed in the constitution. Thus most of our current bureaucratic government is not constitutional. (everything not mentioned in the Constitution is left to the states not the Federal government) For emphasis the first ten amendments were added to clarify key rights the government could not take away, two of the most important being: free speech (the ability to criticize the government); and the right to bear arms (ability of individuals to defend themselves).

Let’s stop arguing over whether we are a democracy or not, and admit we do not want to be a democracy!

Now if only our government would adhere to the constitution! (which they haven’t for over 150 years)