Democracy or Republic?

I absolutely get turned in knots when people think of the United States of America as a democracy instead of as a Republic. Look at what our founding fathers thought of democracy:

John Adams (An Essay on Man's Lust for Power; August 29, 1763)

[D]emocracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy, such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes and no man's life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure, and every one of these will soon mould itself into a system of subordination of all the moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the powers of wealth, beauty, wit and science, to the wanton pleasures, the capricious will, and the execrable cruelty of one or a very few.

(letter to John Taylor; April 15, 1814)

Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.

James Madison (Federalist No. 10; November 23, 1787)

[D]emocracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.

Fisher Ames (speech in the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention; January 15, 1788)

The known propensity of a democracy is to licentiousness which the ambitious call, and ignorant believe to be liberty.

This is why they use the word republican as our form of government. To them, democracy was a call of the wild. It would erode the very character of human nature and cause more calamity than having a king. Unfortunately, people have used ignorance to spread the "doctrine" of democracy.

Though the republican form of government was not the best and ideal way (for on earth there will never be a perfect rule of law outside of God's rule), our founders thought that government should at all times answer to the citizenry.

What did they really think about the republican form of government?

James Madison (Federalist No. 39)

If we resort for a criterion to the different principles on which different forms of government are established, we may define a republic to be, or at least may bestow that name on, a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure for a limited period, or during good behavior.

Alexander Hamilton (Federalist No. 9; 1787)

The regular distribution of power into distinct departments; the introduction of legislative balances and checks; the institution of courts composed of judges holding their offices during good behavior; the representation of the people in the legislature by deputies of their own election... They are means, and powerful means, by which the excellences of republican government may be retained and its imperfections lessened or avoided.

Thomas Jefferson (letter to Francis C. Gray; 1815)

Although a republican government is slow to move, yet when once in motion, its momentum becomes irresistible.

George Washington (Farewell Address; 1796)

The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize.

So the next time someone calls our form of government a democracy, correct them and point them back to our founders. There is not any good reason for ignorance except laziness.

Stand on the American Principles, and we shall survive. Cloud them over, and we shall divide.

Make America great. Support a local tax revolution near you and send Congress and our President a message that we are a nation constituted by sovereign laws, and we will not take kindly to those acting in bad behavior to subvert our country with universalist myths.

Have a great Easter!