This is a follow up, or addition to the post from a few years ago: Democracy a loan to the imperfectly righteous
We keep hearing that, more and more, that Democracy is on the Ballot, and if we do not vote the “right” way, we will lose it.
An example of this for a political comedian that at times (more than others in the mainstream media) touches on truth, but is never able to connect to it fully.
America is not a democracy, we are or maybe were, a Representative Democracy – a Republic.
By definition, a republic is a representative form of government that is ruled according to a charter, or constitution, and a democracy is a government that is ruled according to the will of the majority. Although these forms of government are often confused, they are quite different.
For a republic to survive, as Plato spells out, it needs either a Noble Lie, or a Transcendent Truth. Or, in my opinion a combination of both.
In modern terms a Noble Lie is a charter or constitution that speaks to all people that live under it, so much so that they believe it, even if it may not be literally true. For instance: “America is the greatest nation in the world.” If that is true or not is irrelevant, so far as people believe this and strive for this “truth”, or “lie” the Noble Lie works.
A transcendent Truth is the spiritual underpinnings of a nation – its religion usually – or a value system that is elevated above the mundane physical reality. Judaism or Christianity in the West. A uniting value system that is adopted by the majority that promotes and inhibits certain actions that drive a population, and civilization forward.
How these look can change. For instance a Noble Lie that a religious person might uphold is “Men are able to govern themselves.”
And a non-religious person, that Rights are not granted by government, but by G-d – Which is the definition of “inalienable rights”. “G-d” here can mean nature, or the Universe, or Infinity, but so long as the State is not the final arbiter rights cannot be “taken away”.
Unfortunately, in the US, we have lost sight of this. The Left sees Government as an answer to everything. Be it in regulations of commerce(push to a top heavy socialism), to how people should treat each other (The Woke Mob); and the Right speaks of “Freedom of the Individual”, while electing “strong men” to rule over the country to make ‘libs cry’ and “clean house” (or the Swamp).
When all of this, ideally – should have been done by the people themselves – using common/shared values.
So as we “lose democracy” this coming election – we never had it to begin with, and more importantly, could not keep it… as the original post stated, Democracy only survives so long as righteous men and women – the Citizens of the Nation, have control of themselves, and their civilization.