Editor, Times-Union:
It seems there are still some folks who think all this talk about democracy is hogwash, that America is not a democracy because that word does not appear in the Constitution. (How obvious it is that the Constitution is their go-to source of “I told you so” when it suits their arguments, but the same base authority for governing America ought to be ignored or even suspended when their arguments fall apart or their quests for authoritarian leadership seem hindered by that document.)
Judging from recent Facebook postings, proponents of the belief that we are not a democracy stubbornly assert their “proof” based on the rantings of, shall we say, very questionable, self-appointed experts. One such know-it-all is the current lieutenant governor and 2024 candidate for governor of North Carolina, Mark Robinson, a drop out of University of North Carolina. Robinson began his political career after reading a book by Rush Limbaugh. He “has promoted conspiracy theories, including Holocaust denial, and has often made inflammatory anti- LGBT, antisemitic, and Islamaphobic statements . He opposes abortion, promotes climate change denial … and has indicated he wants to remove science and social studies from firstthrough fifth-grade curriculum…” (Wikipedia) But wait, there’s more. Read for yourself if you dare. Ah, yes. I see why loyalists of a certain party would choose to believe such a learned authority on all things culture related.
Once again, yes, we are a republic. Once again, we are also a representative democracy. “Perhaps it might be more accurate to say ‘the United States was intended to be a republic, but has grown into a democratic republic”…”The distinction between these two forms of government has narrowed”….”the United States is a republic constructed of many democratic republics.” [i.e. states] -This Nation, September, 2021
With all this in mind, I can’t help but think that the verbal battle over which of these terms best describes our country is mainly based on the perception of the terms themselves — Republic=Republicans and Democracy=Democrats — and everyone must strictly be one or the other. Didn’t we all grow up voting for things all our lives in school, in clubs, in small and large groups? Didn’t we all agree that we had to be democratic in making our decisions? Didn’t we all agree that the majority would rule once a vote was taken and all voices were heard?
Only in recent years has the rule of democratic decisions been criticized, fought over, and scrutinized extensively by “experts” who do not like to lose. Majority rule has always been a fact of life ….. until now ….. when those who refuse to accept defeat have now decided the rule must change. It boggles my mind that this whole thing is actually a thing. Maybe we should all go back and repeat kindergarten, where we were supposed to learn everything we needed to know in life!
Jeanne Schutz
Winona Lake, via email