Democracy, Republic, Constitutional Republic, Federal Republic, or a Constitutional Federal Republic. What are we?

Which form of government is “our form of government?” According to political commentators and network news, we have a democracy. Do we?

According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary (www.meriam-webster.com):

• Democracy: is a: government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.
• Republic: is a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law.
• Federal: : of or constituting a form of government in which power is distributed between a central authority and a number of constituent territorial units
• Constitutional: the mode in which a state or society is organized; especially : the manner in which sovereign power is distributed.

The founders of the United States wanted to avoid the democratic form of government. “As James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 10, ‘Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.’” [1] Some describe it as a “tyranny of the majority.”[2]

If democracies are historically unstable, and present a danger to the rights of minorities, why do political commentators and our elected officials speak of the need to “spread democracy” at home and abroad?[3] Why is our form of government referred to as “our democracy?”[4]

We elect representatives to the congress of the United States; citizens do not vote directly on Federal legislation. Representatives are sworn, “…bound by oath or affirmation, to support th[e] Constitution.”[5]

The governing power of our Federal government, of our elected representatives, is limited by the Constitution– the document that “determine[s] the powers and duties of [a] government and guarantee certain rights to the people in it.”[6]

Why then, is there so much talk of democracy and so little talk of “Federal Republics” or “Constitutional Federal Republics?”  It’s important to remember that words have an exact meaning, and that their misuse have serious implications. Equivocation, especially in terms of jurisdiction and law, is dangerous. In terms of rights, there’s a big difference between a Democracy, a Republic, and a Constitutionally limited Federal Republic. That is, Democratic or Republican forms of government aren’t inherently limited in their jurisdiction or power over individuals or their property.

As you celebrate Independence Day, remember the next time you write, comment on an article, or call a radio talk show, to use the term “Constitutional Federal Republic.”

Words matter — make yours count.