Democracy

"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican form of government." – Constitution of the United States

Our founding fathers certainly made their opinions clear on what form of government our country should take on. Today, we are a strong representative government, for several important reasons. In the beginning of the formation of our American government, the question was should it be a pure form of democracy like that seen in ancient Greece, or a representative democracy, more resembling the republic of the early Roman empire. I will examine our government’s founders’ writings and words that eventually led to our present, representative form of democracy, and prove why pure democracy not only is a poor form of government, but could actually become dangerous very quickly.

"Remember, Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a Democracy yet that did not commit suicide." - John Quincy Adams (Platt 413)

John Adams no doubt studied one of the first direct (pure) democracies in history – that of ancient Athens. Athens was one of the largest and most powerful city states in early ancient Greece, and under calm conditions, was fairly successful. However, when its most testing period of war, the Peloponnesian war, hit, citizens predictably became weary of conditions and attempted, themselves, to alter the form of government in Athens into a dictatorship because of the promises of leaders who desired power. This set Athenian government far behind Sparta and resulted in a deep slope that the Athenians had to climb back up. Almost all pure democracies in Ancient Greece suffered similar times of weariness in citizens that led to dictatorship at one point or another (Athenian Democracy).

"Pure Democracy cannot subsist long nor be carried far into the departments of state, it is very subject to caprice and the madness of popular rage", John Witherspoon, signer of the Declaration of Independence. (Howse 26)

Our founding fathers realized (politically correct or not) that the majority can often hold a very emotional and uneducated view on matters, especially in difficult times. The majority particularly can fail in the subject of history, and they can have very short memories. It is of critical importance that, when faced with great decisions, history be examined to see how similar situations were dealt with and what the consequences of the choices made were. Most people would not do that. What is even more dangerous than short memory or an ‘F’ in history is, as Witherspoon puts it, the popular rage and madness of the majority. People tend to have very emotional and angry responses to hardship. If every mind in our country was more busy attempting to solve the problem of Iraq instead of voicing anger at the mistakes of our leaders, someone may have come up with a brilliant solution. The majority’s first, and often only, response to difficult situations is anger. They would sooner change leadership and reformat government than solve problems. This not only leads to backwardness, but can be much more dangerous in that it eventually leads to dictatorship, when one charismatic person takes advantage of changing moods – this was the chief concern of the founding fathers when considering pure democracy.

The country’s founders knew that representatives, elected by the majority, would still represent a majority consensus, but at the same time (again, politically correct or not) would be wiser and more educated than the average person. They would be well versed in history, and would have leadership skills that included prudence. Because of constant scrutiny, they would also be forced to be fairly consistent with their original views. Thomas Jefferson knew, when he wrote “a government for the people”, that it is best when the people are not for themselves, or serving themselves, but when an elected official (the government) is serving them.

A pure democracy, like other poor forms of government, sounds great to anyone. The founding fathers realized, however, that it just does not work in an imperfect world, where people, and the majority population in particular, can make very bad decisions based on impulse and emotions, especially anger. Prudence is key for a leader, and educated representatives, bound by law and observed constantly by the people (and the media, in the modern day), will exercise the trait much more than a mob of angry citizens who answer to no one and no law.

“Athenian Democracy.” Wikipedia. 8 September, 2007

Howse, Brannon. One Nation Under Man? Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005.

Platt, Suzy. Respectfully Quoted. Barnes and Noble Publishing, 1993.

Note: I didn’t state anything about the fact that pure democracy is almost impossible considering the size of our country. I considered this to be completely obvious, and instead went for more substance by explaining the intellectual flaws of the system.