by Danny Westneat, Seattle Times
“We are devolving into a democracy, because congressmen and senators are elected by the same pool,” was how one GOP delegate put it to the convention. “We do not want to be a democracy.”
We don’t? There are debates about how complete of a democracy we wish to be; for example, the state Democratic Party platform has called for the direct election of the president (doing away with the Electoral College). But curtailing our own vote? The GOPers said they hoped states’ rights would be strengthened with such a move.
Then they kicked it up a notch. They passed a resolution calling on people to please stop using the word “democracy.”
“We encourage Republicans to substitute the words ‘republic’ and ‘republicanism’ where previously they have used the word ‘democracy,’ ” the resolution says. “Every time the word ‘democracy’ is used favorably it serves to promote the principles of the Democratic Party, the principles of which we ardently oppose.”
The resolution sums up: “We … oppose legislation which makes our nation more democratic in nature.”
The Seatle Times, April 24, 2024
So.
What is a Republic? What does ‘republic’ mean? Not much. You can look up the word in many places without getting a concise answer. In one it said a state where leaders are elected or appointed. Well, what a difference. Hitler was appointed. Kim Jong -un was appointed. Thomas Jefferson was elected. But so was Putin.
The word was first coined in 508 BC in a small city-state called Rome. They had just thrown out the Etruscan king, (from Tuscany, Rome’s perrenially rival) and decided that, hell, we don’t want ANY king. The senate, they decided would rule. Thus not a king but the people – the public – would rule. And they gave the name of their new system Republic, which meant ‘we the people’, would rule. But it wasn’t so democratic. The people who were allowed to rule were only the ruling class. The system became so corrupt and weak that Julius Ceasar said enough of this, I’ll be the king, er, uh, I mean council of the senate and the decider. His successor, Augustus, became the first emperor.
So the word Republic designates very little. The most liberal democracy in the world is officially The Republic of France. The most dangerous autocracy in the middle East is called the Islamic Republic of Iran. The country where the dictator is the chosen son, (primogeniture) and dissidents are put to death right now is officially the Republic of North Korea. In 2019 Barbados decided identifying as British was no longer desireable
and declared they were a Republic. What changed? Nothing save the ceremonial head of state was no longer the queen of England.
Democracy, by contrast is a quality, a texture with varying degrees. The greater representation of all of the citizens, the more a country is said to be democratic. Our country, inarguably was more democratic when slavery was abolished and when women were given the right to vote. A country is less democratic when corruption and voter suppression is rampant. Also democracy is also based on the voters having access to information. Disinformation and propaganda cause the voters to make decisions without knowing the situation, the behavior and honesty and history of candidates. Propagandists want us, like Winston Smith in Orwell’s 1984, to believe 2+2= 5. This is also a reduction of democracy.
Thus to replace the term democracy with republicanism makes little sense.
So the Washington Republican Committee Chairman wants you to believe Democracy is Bad. And 2+2 =5.
