As the protests in Wisconsin continue, and occasionally border on riotous, as when the crowds repeatedly shout down FOX NEWS’ reporters and attack Governor Scott Walker’s house and automotive, I can’t help but wonder how the Founding Fathers might react were they to see it. How would they react to the unions’ cries for democracy? And to the way those cries have been parroted on media outlet after media outlet across our country?
Granted, the Founders all recognized “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances,” but they did so from the vantage point of a republican form of government rather than a democratic one. In fact, the fear of “democracy” was foremost in the minds of many of our Founders as this nation was birthed.
One of the reasons our Founders opposed democracy was because of its short life expectancy. Said John Adams, the second president of the United States: “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” And because they feared the violence (think Wisconsin’s teachers’ unions) that usually accompanies a democracy’s suicide, Benjamin Rush warned: “A simple democracy is one of the greatest of evils.”
Predominantly, the Founders viewed democracy as “mob rule.” A form of government in which a mere a minority of the population could manipulate a majority of voters into supporting their cause, therefore giving the few control over the purses, the land, and the lives of the many. (Case in point: the 10% of the employees in this country who are unionized and who, through the partnership unions share with the Democrat Party, have been able to live off the monies confiscated from taxes on the 90% of non-unionized employees.)
On the other hand, our Founders adhered to a republican form of government because of its stability over the long haul. It wasn’t given to “change,” thus even the most charismatic of leaders, or politicians, would always be constrained by the limitations placed upon him (or her) by the Constitution and the laws of nature.
In this we are reminded of another reason our Founders preferred a republican form of government: namely, because it is rational rather than emotional.
It is democracy that provides an emotional base sufficient to allow a union boss to take to the airwaves (or the streets of Wisconsin) and defend the belief that their members ought to receive healthcare and pension benefits at the expense of someone else. Moreover, the emotionalism of a perceived democracy not only allows them to do this, but apparently also keeps them from feeling shame for having done it.
Clearly, one of the greatest lessons from Wisconsin is a reminder of why our Founding Fathers despised democracy.
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