America Unspun

  In light of the recent election and the healthy discussion about the nature of our great nation, I listened with great interest to folks talking about our democracy. I pondered their arguments, mostly centered around whether the United States should abolish the Electoral College. I don’t want to get into that right now, but it got me to remembering some of my early education and wondering about exactly what kind of democracy we have.

  As I think back to my grammar school days (so long ago!), I recall standing every morning and repeating a simple formula over and over. I’m certain many of you had the same experience and the same formula. It went like this: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

  If your experience was similar, you repeated those words hundreds, if not thousands of times through your school years without any great thought about the message contained in them. Yes, I was taught to love our great country, and I’m reasonably sure many of you were as well. I was also taught that voting is important and when I grew up, I was supposed to vote often. Just like with the Electoral College discussion, I don’t want to analyze the Pledge of Allegiance here, but do want to focus on the part that says “and to the Republic, for which it stands.”

  The answer to my question seems obvious on its face. The United States of America is a Republic with some Democracy worked in – A Democratic Representative Republic. This model, like so much else the Founding Fathers gave us, is tied to their experiences, their wisdom, and the world around them. They gave us a model that explicitly established a Republic with two houses to represent the interests of the citizens of the United States. Then, as now, there was a disparity in the size and population of our great nation. In the Federalist Papers Number 62 either Alexander Hamilton or James Madison, we don’t know for sure, argued for a Senate as a compromise to protect the interests of the smaller States as a “mixture of the principles of proportional and equal representation.”

 Clearly, the Founding Fathers intended to create a Republic with some elements of a Democracy, but did not intend to create a classic Democracy. I am non-partisan, and so used a variety of sources and readings in this short entry. I urge you all, no matter what your political leanings, to read and educate yourselves from a variety of sources.

This article is respectfully submitted and I invite your respectful agreement or criticism.