Democracy Has Been Destroying the 2nd Amendment
BY Herschel Smith
4 years ago
“Save Our Democracy!” Kimball proclaims. “It has a ring to it. I hope team Trump will consider organizing a bunch of them now, today.”
It does have a ring to it, one that falls flat with those who pay attention to such matters. We are a republic, not a democracy. The “D”-word appears nowhere in the Declaration of Independence, and more importantly, nowhere in the Constitution, which instead proclaims “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government…”
[ … ]
Recognizing the dangers of mob rule, our Bill of Rights defined some of the areas where the individual would be immune to the will of the collective. That means no matter how many of us disagree with you, we cannot lawfully use force to shut you up, to suppress your political views, or to make you worship in the way WE see fit. We cannot break into your house and search your property without cause and a legal warrant. We cannot torture you into confessing to a crime. Barring behaviors on your part to disqualify yourself, we cannot strip you of your ability to keep and bear arms (which, if you think about it, is useless unless you’re also locked up). No matter how many of us vote on it.
Democracy is as much tyranny as is a despot in the seat of potentate. Either way, rights are infringed.
Rights are decreed by the Almighty, not given, granted, issued, or otherwise permitted by any piece of paper or man. Man tries to occupy the chair of the Almighty when he presumes to decide rights.
Do not locate the source of your rights (and duties) in man or anything he writes or declares. Mankind’s edicts are only valid inasmuch as they follow the laws of the sovereign Lord of the universe.
This is why I am a “Christian libertarian,” not a “Libertarian.” True liberty is found only in God and following His commands, as we were taught by R. J. Rushdoony.
On December 3, 2020 at 7:46 pm, June J said:
Every person who makes a statement about “the/our democracy” is either woefully ignorant of the founding principles or dangerous enemies of the Constitution – regardless of their political persuasion.
On December 4, 2020 at 12:32 am, BRVTVS said:
This is the issue that made me mistrust Barry Goldwater. In his first book (The Conscience of a Conservative), he devoted considerable space to explaining that we are a republic and not a democracy. In his later books, he repeatedly calls our system a democracy. I realize now that the books were ghost-written, but he clearly didn’t even vet them for consistency with his principles, probably because he had none.
On December 4, 2020 at 5:58 pm, scott s. said:
As near as I can tell, the idea of “republic” being in opposition to “democracy” is a modern invention, probably post-WWII as we sought to distinguish ourselves from “democratic socialist republics”.
Cicero in De Re Publica argues that there are three forms of government — monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. All tend over time to result in bad government and much of his treatise was in thinking how to avoid that outcome. He seems to reject Plato’s Republic as more of a thought exercise that can’t be realized in the real world. His basic solution was a “mixed” government containing elements of all three forms. De Re Publica is translated either as “republic” or “commonwealth” and I have never understood if there is some distinction intended there. It seems the Locke view is towards not so much the form of government, rather the need for consent of the governed and that of necessity good government must be limited government. (And of course our current mask-mandating and social distancing proclamations violate both.) “Tyranny is the exercise of Power beyond Right, which no Body can have a Right to.”
On December 4, 2020 at 9:06 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@scott s.,
Without going into an entire treatise on this, Calvin championed the notion of a republic, i.e., rights given by God, elected representatives making policy decisions (versus the idea of majority rule).
This is where the Presbyterian form of church government comes from. I’ll grant the idea that it isn’t perfect, and in today’s world, it has become almost impossible to rid yourself of bad elders. Books of Church Order exist now more than anything else to protect elders once they are elected.
So corruption exists even within the church, but the main idea I’m getting at is that it’s more than merely a modern invention.