Because of the U.S. Constitution, Americans have had the privilege of more than two centuries of freedom. Keeping government in a limited role as envisioned by the Founding Fathers has allowed us to take entrepreneurial risks and be rewarded for our successes. Although there are still many who take their liberties for granted, true patriots understand the Constitutional roots of freedom and the proper role government should have.
When forming the document, the Founding Fathers acknowledged that our rights come from God, not the government, and that the basis of the Constitution was to protect those rights. This Republic had the goal to govern the government and not the people.
It instituted unambiguous boundaries of governmental power and just so the limits were understood; they added the Bill of Rights, or the first ten amendments to the Constitution. The first nine limit the government from infringing on specific individual rights, and the tenth basically says, “If we forgot anything, you can’t do that either.”
Many will argue that we live under a democracy, but the word doesn’t even appear once throughout the Constitution. The Founding Fathers knew that a democracy meant being governed by popular opinion without regard to individual rights, and that it could easily lead to a tyrannical government. The word itself comes from the Greeks and means literally “government by the people.” (Republics and Democracies Booklet) Many of the founders understood the dangers that came along with a democracy. John Adams warned Americans, “Remember, Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself! There never was a democracy that ‘did not commit suicide.’”
On the other side of the coin, a republic is full of checks and balances. The word “republic” comes from the Latin res publica and means literally “the public affairs.” It means that the people are governed by law. It holds in check anyone who would infringe on our God-given rights, including the government. Benjamin Franklin was the one who answered whether the United States was a republic or a democracy when he said, “A republic …if you can keep it.”
As the federal government increasingly continues to ignore its Constitutional boundaries, are we going to keep our republic? Are we going to hold our government accountable to the vision of our Founding Fathers? Is the seizure of all powers, legislative, executive, and judicial going to continue by the federal government or are we going to prevent this centralization of power? Learn what you can do to defend freedom, liberties and our republic with the synergy of The John Birch Society!
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