The Laughing Wolf

The Myth of Democracy

Perhaps the greatest and most enduring myths about America is that it is a democracy. Despite everything you hear on the news, all too often in the classroom, and in person-on-the-street interviews, we are not a democracy. We are a republic.

The difference between the two is profound, even if apparently too subtle for so many of our allegedly-great thinkers and commentators. In a true, classical democracy, it is one person, one vote. Through this, the voice of everyone can be heard – at least in theory.

The drawback to this is that any action of any type requires that everyone stop what they are doing, debate the topic, and vote. Such necessity, however, means that an awful lot of needed work, like tending the fields and flocks, guarding the borders, and such, does not get done because you are continually in debate.

For this reason, representative democracy was developed. In this form of government, the people chose leaders to represent them, hold the debates, seek advice, and make decisions. Good decisions meant that the city/state and or other beneficiaries of the social compact prospered. Bad decisions meant hardship at best, and total annihilation at worst. Leaders who failed this ultimate test were removed or paid with their lives, fortunes and sacred honor.

If those words sound familiar, you probably had a good American history course somewhere along the way. In ancient Greece, where most modern forms of governance had their development and testing phase, it was the literal truth. The leaders knew that they could and would be held to the ultimate accountability, and under the rules of the day that their immediate families would share that burden. If they did well, all prospered including their families. If they did not do well, then their families could, would, and did die; their fortunes and those of their immediate families would be lost; and, it might be generations before people would trust members of that family again with anything.

The founding fathers were not just a bunch of wild-haired radicals hep with the latest thought, art, and music fads from Europe. They were also well educated in what constituted the classics, including history and political science that covered the glory days of ancient Greece and Rome, and in the things that happened to destroy both civilizations.

So, when they decided that the time had come to bounce King George, they – unlike most extremists today who want to bounce President George – had a plan. Indeed, it was a fairly well thought out plan for which at least some limited-scale testing had been done. They knew that it simply wasn’t enough to throw out the bad, they had to replace it with something better.

The lessons of history were clear. A true democracy simply would not work. A representative democracy – a republican form of government – was needed. This much they could all agree on, though the particulars were subject to lively and even forceful debate. Nor was the republic we now have the first thing that was tried.

The one thing that did get the unanimous approval of the original founding fathers, however, was the need for accountability. Again, unlike most modern extremists and even most politicians, they recognized that they as individuals had to take responsibility for their actions and inactions. They knew that they and their families, just as in days of old, would pay a price for what they did and that it would be an even heavier price if they failed.

Their decision reverberates loudly today. For they all signed a document in which they swore oaths bound by their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. These ancient words were chosen with deliberation. They accepted that responsibility, and intended that all who followed them do the same. They served and they led not to gain fame, fortune, and honor; but, to sacrifice it as needed in service to those who joined the compact.

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