Ben fink democracy12/11/2023 ![]() “A lynch mob is democracy in action,” I would say. When I did, I loved to tell them about the differences between a republic and a democracy. I always enjoyed the opportunity to talk to high school students when I could wrangle an invitation. ![]() For many years I traveled the country giving speeches about the threats to this Republic. Over the past four decades I have recounted this story several hundred times. With no hesitation, Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Not a democracy, not a democratic republic. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got?” Consequently, anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall when the proceedings ended, eager to learn what had been produced behind those closed doors.Īs the delegates left the building, a Mrs. The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 were held in strict secrecy. ![]() But what should replace them? Each state sent a group of representatives to meet in Philadelphia and hammer out a new agreement. The first effort, the Articles of Confederation, was generally regarded as a failure. If you remember much from your high school history classes about the founding of this country, you know there was a great deal of controversy about what type of government the newly independent states should create. Franklin had used the word "republic" without coupling it to the word "democratic," and the difference between a republic (a government of law) and a democracy (majority rule) is so incredibly important to preserving what liberties we have left that I hope you’ll indulge me in a brief history lesson. But I was stunned that a regular reader of this column would get Franklin’s quote so wrong. Granted, most Americans probably believe that the United States is a "democracy" because that’s what they’ve heard all their lives. But it still said the same thing: “Benjamin Franklin said, ‘We have given you a democratic-republic … if you can keep it.” In fact, I had to look away and blink a couple of times before reading the email again. Article audio sponsored by The John Birch SocietyĪt first I couldn’t believe my eyes. ![]()
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