In the Pledge of Allegiance we say, “and to the Republic.” Our leaders, even the President and those in the media, often call our form of government a democracy. But do we or do they understand the difference between a democracy and a republic? 

A democracy is simple majority rule; opinions or emotions of the citizens create the “norm” or “the law,” which is based on the whim of the populous or the mobs, with no safeguards for the minority or the individual. The all-powerful majority is not restrained by law as we know it, and, therefore, can take control. “In democracy … there are commonly tumults and disorders …. Therefore, a pure democracy is generally a very bad government. It is often the most tyrannical government on earth.” –Noah Webster

In the United States, we have a Constitutional republican form of government which is limited by or subject to the law and a constitution, which together safeguard the unalienable rights of the minority and individual rights. Under a republic, citizens have a standard, i.e. a system of moral laws based on such foundations as the Ten Commandments, and the people must seek to live by this system for the republic to succeed. 

In a democracy, the entire population votes, and the majority wins. In our Constitutional republic, citizens elect representatives who make the laws under which we live. It is imperative, therefore, that we elect righteous representatives who pass moral laws. As citizens, we must do our due diligence in voting and electing our leaders and keeping them accountable.

Following the Constitutional Convention in 1787, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin, “Sir, what have you given us?” Franklin responded, “A Republic, Ma’am, if you can keep it.”  Therefore, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” (Preamble to the U.S. Constitution)

Please share this information with your friends and family while we join together in prayer for a more perfect union here in Kansas.  Then, come November 5, vote!

Many blessings,

Mary Meininger
State Director