Monday, February 23, 2009

The Rule of Law in a Republic

I just watched this phenomenal video, " The American Form of Government," via Next Right. Do yourself a favor and spend ten minutes watching and enjoying this marvel of clarity in elementary political theory:

During the video's discussion of the founding of our nation, the narrator says, "the Founders chose to give us the rule of a republic, not the rule of the majority in a democracy."

The reason is obvious, of course, as pure democracy is synonymous with mob rule, and in the absence of legal and institutional checks on majority power, tyranny results - and as the video indicates, mob rule devolves into rule by oligarchy in the name of the "people," the result itself of popular demands for the collectivization of society's product and redistribution of society's wealth; this then creates mass impoverishment, followed in turn by anarchy in the streets and then a popular outcry to "restore order." The popular democratic government metastasizes into an oligarchic dictatorship, and individual liberty and personal security become a thing of the past.

Watch
the whole video, and read the whole post, "From Rick Santelli to Limited Government, Fiscal Responsibility and Free Markets."

What an afternoon delight!


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And seriously, think about this as the current ACORN civil disobedience mob takes over homes in Baltimore, with impicit encouragement via the Barack Obama administration's mortgage entitlement program. It's not all abstract theory, folks.

9 comments:

  1. Wow Doc, you are on fire today. Great post and very enjoyable.

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  2. Dr.D,
    I thought whoever did this video is a natural teacher. Well done. Thanks.

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  3. I know, Law and Order Teacher. I don't see a source, but it's a great video.

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  4. Phillipe, or Flipper...that is one of the most ignorant things I have heard in my 53 years on this planet.

    First off, the USA was founded as a Constitutional Republic and NOT a Democracy. Democracy is 2 wolves and a sheep discussing what's for dinner.

    To do what you suggest, we would have to throw away our Constitution and I didn't serve to preserve that document for almost 30 years to have it tossed out.

    What this Nation MUST do in order to survive as a Nation is to RETURN to the Constitution. We can either do it by force ... or not.

    Anyway, I played the audio for this video several times on my show over the past few months. It is in fact amazing.

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  5. Liberalism is very good, but its negative effects have to be moderated by conservatism.

    Absolutely, and vice versa. Those were some interesting ideas Philippe. I don't know who we'd find to fill the role of monarch in this country, though, who would appeal to right and left. That said, I love my job, but as a Protestant, I would be willing to sacrifice it for the common good. And, I do look great in purple robes and crown.

    I like the thoughts on education as well. It would help to restore the all men are created equal idea and provide equal opportunity.

    BTW, Snooper, I believe Philippe is saying exactly the same thing about Democracy that you are, only w/o the wolves and sheep.

    Democracy is something excellent, but it still has a bad side - the dictatorship of the majority against the minority.

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  6. A Republic has its problems especially when the non-producers have enough votes to steal from those who are the producers. We are fast approaching the time when instead of Robin Hood, who took tax money from those who took it from the workers, we have a Robber from the "Hood" extorting those who are workers to finance those who do not.

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  7. Brad Pitt and Steve Martin, yeah, I love it. Martin has already been King Tut. If Warren Buffett were not so old, he might be a good choice. Or Bill Gates. He's too rich to be corruptible, hpoefully.

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  8. I saw this video in revleft.com (PLEASE don't mistake me with a marxist..... Im a libertarian....go Ron Paul!) of course all of them dismissed the idea as right wing "propaganda"....... whatever, but one of them said "if a republic is the rule of law as opposed to the rule of the mob, then who makes the laws?".... I think thats a misconception, the republic's constitution is the higher law of the country that guaranties respect for the property and rights of all their citizens and according to that principles all the other laws are created by representatives elected by the people who also must respect and honor the constitution.

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