The Republic of China: A Republic, not a Democracy, Part I

The Republic of China: A Republic, not a Democracy, Part I
China Post Editorial
Bevin Chu
January 2, 2009

Did you know that the Republic of China was never meant to be a democracy?

That's right. A nation named the "Republic of China" was never meant to be a democracy. It was meant to be a republic, just as its name suggests. Now how shocking is that?

Actually it's not shocking at all.

What is shocking, is how few people realize this fact. What is shocking, is how few people even know what the difference between a republic and a democracy is.

America's Founding Fathers knew the difference between a republic and a democracy. They knew it only too well.

When Benjamin Franklin was leaving Independence Hall at the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, an onlooker shouted to him, “Well, doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?”

Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

Notice Franklin did not say, "A democracy, if you can keep it."  Why not? Because a democracy is precisely what Benjamin Franklin was hoping the American people could keep the republic from becoming. 

Modern "champions of democracy," fancy themselves courageous defenders of the American Founding Fathers' political ideals. How ironic! They have never understood how America's Founding Fathers actually felt about democracy. To understand how America's Founding Fathers actually felt about democracy, consider the following direct quotes.

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"
-- Benjamin Franklin, leader of the American Revolution

"A Democracy is the most vile form of government there is!"
-- Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense, champion of the American Revolution

"We are a Republican Government. Real liberty is never found in despotism or in the extremes of Democracy. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure deformity."
-- Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury to George Washington, author of the Federalist Papers

"Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."
-- John Adams, 2nd President of the United States

"We may still believe with security that the great body of the American people must for ages yet be substantially republican."
-- Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States, author of the Bill of Rights

"Democracies 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 death.
-- James Madison, 4th President of the United States, Father of the Constitution

"The experience of all former ages had shown that of all human governments, democracy was the most unstable, fluctuating and short-lived."
-- John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States

"Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos."
-- John Marshall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, 1801-1835

Are you flabbergasted? You shouldn't be.

America's Founding Fathers were visionary political philosophers confronted with the most daunting task imaginable. Their task was not merely to found a new nation, but to invent a new system of government. They diligently researched history to learn what to do. History told them what to do. But even more importantly, it told them what not to do. It told them not to adopt democracy, the worst form of government ever tried.

What is the distinction between a republic and a democracy? What made America's Founding Fathers detest democracy with such intensity?

Put simply, a republic is a political system predicated on the rule of law. A democracy, on the other hand, is a political system predicated on the rule of the mob.

A republic is a political system founded upon objective standards, as embodied in a written constitution, according to the letter of the law. Disputes within a republic are settled by consulting the nation's basic law, its constitution. The law, as enumerated in its constitution, is the final authority.

A democracy, on the other hand, is a political system founded upon subjective standards, on the shifting sands of "mainstream public opinion," better known as mob sentiment. Disputes within a democracy are settled by first inciting, then "consulting" the mob, through endless elections, plebiscites, and referenda. The whim of the mob is the final authority.

Given the Founding Fathers' loathing for democracy, we should not be surprised that the Constitution of the United States does not contain a single solitary reference to the word "democracy," but instead stipulates that "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government."

A New Year has just begun. It is time for a new beginning. It is time to clear the cobwebs out of our minds. It is time for defenders of the Republic of China to cease reflexively "championing democracy," and begin championing what America's Founding Fathers referred to as "republican government." It is time to restore the constitutional republic of modern China's own Founding Father, Sun Yat-sen. The good doctor gave us a republic. It is up to us to see if we can keep it.