Democracy is transitory — it is a tool that allows revolutionaries and despots to transform nations according to their own wishes. And because it is transitory, it is temporal. This is clear if we consider that former democratic countries like Cuba, China, North Korea, and North Vietnam are no longer democratic (or are democratic in name only). That our Founding Fathers were well aware of the temporality of democracy was evident in the words of America’s second president, John Adams, who said: “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” Our Founders saw the dangers that democracy posed for our great experiment in freedom and risked “[their] Lives, [their] Fortunes, and [their] sacred Honor” to create a republic instead. It is to honor them and preserve our own liberty that we don’t just pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States, but also to “the republic for which it stands.”
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 23:30:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015