Thomas Friedman writes in his NYT column:
Our Democracy Is at Stake
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
This time is different. What is at stake in this government shutdown forced by a radical Tea Party minority is nothing less than the principle upon which our democracy is based: majority rule. President Obama must not give in to this hostage taking — not just because Obamacare is at stake, but because the future of how we govern ourselves is at stake.
Someone needs to explain to Thomas L. Friedman that the Founding Fathers didn’t write the U.S. Constitution to establish a democratic form of government. If Friedman has read the Constitution, he surely must know the word “democracy” is nowhere to be found. Instead, a republican form of government is guaranteed to the states.
Friedman correctly describes a democracy as “majority rule”. He could just as well said “mob rule” or the “tyranny of the majority”. This was how the Founders viewed democracy. It was two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for lunch, Ben Franklin quipped.
A republic, on the other hand, differs from “majority rule” by establishing government to protect minority rights. You know, like the right to the fruit of your own labor; the right not to have the government back its growing debt with a promise to pay premised upon the principle that the government may expropriate from you by force the fruits of your labors. The right not to be made a slave to debt incurred by others.
