{"id":434,"date":"2020-11-05T23:08:56","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T04:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/harmonybetweentheears.com\/?p=434"},"modified":"2020-11-06T15:44:49","modified_gmt":"2020-11-06T20:44:49","slug":"republic-or-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harmonybetweentheears.com\/index.php\/2020\/11\/05\/republic-or-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Republic or Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As I write this, no one has any idea who our \u201cnew\u201d POTUS will be. Ballots are still being counted, recounted, verified, etc. To be honest, I really don\u2019t care who wins. The \u201clesser of the 2 evils\u201d is STILL evil. But I digress. The impetus for this post is hearing politicians, media members, and others discussing how our \u201cdemocracy\u201d is being undermined and ruined. I know \u201cdemocracy\u201d and \u201crepublic\u201d are often interchanged, but they are different. And, it is a very important distinction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMadison wrote in \u201cFederalist No. 10.\u201d The Framers designed the American constitutional system not as a direct democracy but as a representative republic, where enlightened delegates of the people would serve the public good. They also built into the Constitution a series of cooling mechanisms intended to inhibit the formulation of passionate factions, to ensure that reasonable majorities would prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/2018\/10\/james-madison-mob-rule\/568351\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask Gerald Ford, Al Gore, and Hillary Clinton if we are a democracy? All 3 won the \u201cpopular vote\u201d, yet lost their elections. If Madison, the father of our Constitution says we ain\u2019t a democracy, then we ain\u2019t a democracy. The addition of the Electoral College is the one step that keeps us from being a true democracy. Were we a true democracy we would have an \u201coverall popular vote\u201d winner take all election cycle. The founders feared allowing power to concentrate in heavily populated areas, as this would not capture the spirit of the entire population. So the EC was created to try and balance the power between rural and urban. The main reason Carter won the EC in 76 is due to him being a peanut farmer from Ga – who carried the rural vote, yet was progressive enough for most Democrats to accept him. The EC ain\u2019t perfect nor is it consistent and uniform. But both parties should seriously consider the implications of getting rid of it – or changing it. If our Republic can survive all this hate and negativity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA Republic – if you can keep it.\u201d – Benjamin Franklin. Ironically, that quote is the answer to a question posed by a founding woman in American history – a \u201cMrs. Elizabeth Willing Powel\u201d from Philadelphia – who also encouraged (and convinced) Geo Washington to accept a second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/outlook\/2019\/10\/29\/what-we-get-wrong-about-ben-franklins-republic-if-you-can-keep-it\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I write this, no one has any idea who our \u201cnew\u201d POTUS will be. Ballots are still being counted, recounted, verified, etc. To be honest, I really don\u2019t care who wins. The \u201clesser of the 2 evils\u201d is STILL evil. But I digress. The impetus for this post is hearing politicians, media members, and<\/p>\n

<\/span>Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9IZKf-70","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":354,"url":"https:\/\/harmonybetweentheears.com\/index.php\/2019\/11\/11\/prisoner-of-the-moment\/","url_meta":{"origin":434,"position":0},"title":"Prisoner of the Moment","author":"jc","date":"November 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Socrates is one of my heroes.\u00a0 He was the wise philosopher everyone knows - true enough.\u00a0 But he was also one of the greatest teachers in history.\u00a0 He once said, \"I cannot teach anybody anything. 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I am a grandfather now, and have the most beautiful granddaughter ever born. I do often ponder on the world she will grow up in - more specifically (and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":201,"url":"https:\/\/harmonybetweentheears.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/13\/second-civil-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":434,"position":4},"title":"Second Civil War","author":"jc","date":"October 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Ok folks. Enough is enough. See my twitter timeline, or this blog - and you will see what I think of the 2 party Republic we have. 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