When we declare for the American democracy, we have already lost. Our founders considered democracies dangerous and self-destructive.
Instead as Benjamin Franklin is supposed to have answered a lady who asked after the Constitutional Convention if we had a democracy or a republic, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” It was an inspiration from God using Biblical principles both to protect localism and individual liberty, while forming the strength of a protective union.
The difference is huge—life and death. A democracy caters to a majority. Minority representation is absent. Dissent absent. Democracies run in terms of power blocs. In New York City stake-holder groups provide the little representation the people have, but it is not real representation. Many call democracy mob rule. Eventually, true democracies tend to end up with anarchy on the streets, and an insulated, elite ruling class at the top—dictatorship. Sound familiar?
Yes, American Republicanism does keep the Biblical election franchise element of democracy (Deuteronomy 1 and Acts 3). Even here, democracy merely offers a poor imitation. Rather than through mass ballots as with democracy, the republican electorate chooses its representatives first on a local, relational basis, say the neighborhood. They choose those they know personally for their holiness, integrity, and faithfulness to Scripture. For greater spheres such as our cities, states and nation, they send local representatives to larger face-to-face conclaves. We call them caucuses. There, our personally known representatives choose other representatives—ostensibly from among the best folks in each locale—to represent in greater spheres. At each level, they send the best among to the next level.
Electing representatives in this fashion avoids the heavy weighting of population centers where buying votes is easy. This is the reason we have an electoral college for the presidency.
Further, the Republican principle is further relational, not power-based, in that it runs upon a fixed agreement of law we call a constitution. Constitutions are another name for Biblical covenants. Constitutions limit government to specific powers. True constitutions respect Biblical Law with its protection of justice and liberty.
Constitutional federalism, with its horizontal peer and vertical authority elements, further isolates and limits power within distinct spheres, making power grabs more difficult.
Today, there is not much left of the Republican principle active in America. For the most part the Republican Party doesn’t understand. Americans let the system go to pot with increasingly democrat institutions. We voted for direct election of US Senators. We replaced relational caucuses with direct primaries. Gerrymandering voting districts undermines true local representation. The Supreme Court undermines the rule of fixed law, replacing it with a “living constitution.” Democracies must not limit (sinful) human desire. We have eroded federalism and separation of powers designed to contain and limit power in favor of the increasing collection of power we call democracy.
Biblically-minded Christians are the sole possible legates of American justice and liberty with its Republican Constitutionalism. But are we willing to learn its principles and regain its skills? The great thing is Republican Constitutionalism it works at the most personal levels—the home, the neighborhood, the church, the school, the business. Learning at the smaller spheres readily upscales to the greater spheres.
The question is, are we ready to humble ourselves and learn again the Biblical thinking that made America in the first place. With its collected and systematized Biblical and historical wisdom, I offer my book Thy Will Be Done: When All Nations Call God Blessed at Nordskog Publishing, and Get Wisdom! Making Christian Heroes of Ordinary People at https://getwisdom.us (free) as good places to start learning.
An original of this essay first appeared on Ron Kirk’s Thy Will Be Done Facebook page. Go here to buy Ron’s Nordskog Publishing title Thy Will Be Done.
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