Political season it as its height right now
and we're all glad to be Americans because
we live in a democracy. Well, wait, is this
really a democracy?
America is not a democracy.
See I was talking with this guy.
Uh, my name is Ben Swan.
He does a lot of journalism about our political
system.
And I am a reporter and anchor with WXIX TV
in Cincinnati. I am also the host and producer
of Reality Check.
And I was trying to figure out what he meant.
So we started talking about ancient Greece.
So ancient Greece was a democracy. The people
had the ultimate say. So for instance in the
case of the health care law instead of having
lawmakers who would draft a bill and vote
on a bill and then let the people know what
the decision was, they would write a bill,
a healthcare bill, and then all the people
would go to the polls. And the people would
vote and if the majority of the people said
we like the healthcare law, it would become
law. And if the majority of people said we
don't like it then it wouldn't become law.
Everything would be based upon majority rules.
But when the founders created our Constitution
and our Bill of Rights they established a
form of government and they actually determined
that a democracy was the worst form of government.
Uh, the worst form of government?
Many of the founders said that democracy was
nothing more than mob rule. And so they were
against democracy and instead felt the correct
form of government for this free nation was
a republic.
Ah, yes, a republic. To the Republic for which
it stands and stuff like that. So what's a
republic?
Well a republic is a form of government. Let
me start that again. A republic is a form
of government where the people will go to
the polls to elect men and women who represent
them and then those elected leaders create
and vote on laws. The people don't vote directly
on laws that affect their life, rather, it's
lawmakers who are chosen among the people.
And these are supposed to be the best, the
smartest, the most ethical, the most moral,
the most upright men and women in a society
who represent the majority of society. And
that's the form of government we have in the
United States. The other thing that's important
to understand is the distinction between democracy
and a republic is that a democracy is the
rule of man. Man ruling over each other, which
our founders believed turns into mob rule.
A republic is the rule of law. Laws are formed
and created as a bill of rights or a constitution
and then those laws are never superseded by
mob rule or superseded by elected officials.
They are all under law. So republic is actually
the rule of law.
You heard it here. We are ruled by law, in
a republic. Let's go elect some officials
than. Ben, thanks for talking.
It was a pleasure.
Hey, this is John from Epipheo. Thanks for
watching this week. We would love to hear
your comments on this week's video about being
a republic versus being a democracy. Also
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