Posted on 07/08/2008 4:54:58 PM PDT by My hearts in London - Everett
A Rasmussen Reports poll released late last week found that only 56 percent of Americans believe in the Declaration of Independence’s assertion that governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed. 26 percent disagreed.
(Excerpt) Read more at getliberty.org ...
As a nation we always had scant faith in DEMOCRACY. That is why our founders created a REPUBLIC.
The 26% Liberal Commie MoonBats!
No but my faith in this Republic due to the corrupt leadership is running on empty.
"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
I blame years of indoctrination for the 26%.
I agree! A constitutional republic with a Bill of Rights that protect individuals from any tyranny of the majority. Unfortunately the argument may only be settled when half of society puts the other half in jail.
ML/NJ
The problem is the political public sector has always been overpopulated with complete idiots. What has caused the loss of faith is that the public sector has grown and grown and it will not be that long before the public sector overtakes the private sector and when that tipping point is met, all will be lost.
Hey, at least they'll get their illegal low wage labor, and few will be around to complain.
Exactly.
It is disheartening when you hear people talk about our system as a democracy.
Some, if not most, of our elected government officials refer to our system as a democracy.
The, IMHO, marxist NEA has been very effective in their ability to steer.
While I still don’t believe I am one, when I was first classified as a ‘Senior Citizen’ I resented it. Lately I’m thankful.
Ummmm...something about the Tree-of-Liberty-being-watered quote would be appropriate right about now.
Have we come so far that we all need to watch Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” again?
How often in human history has the individual beat The State? And at what cost?
Socialism is Devolution. The individual is Revolution.
God gave us free will - he didn’t dictate that we become a socialist automaton.
God help us!
K.
Perhaps you found the 26%!
Amen!
But don’t forget the rule of thirds - during the (first) American Revolution one third were Tories, one third Patriots, and one third didn’t care.
How do we stack up today against the rule of thirds? I think the Patriots are at about 15% - not quite a third.
What will it take to find the other 15% of Patriots that will guarantee the survival of the Republic?
Kit.
Liberty bump............
Obviously, it’s going to take even more erosion of our liberties and intrusion into our lives than has already taken place. Not enough Americans are informed enough or affected enough yet to be concerned or irate.
and that that believer in BIG GOVERNMENT, big government intrusiveness and control, high taxes, more regulation, and a nanny-state 'big brother' is actually leading in the polls--
the 'Founding Fathers' must be rolling over in their graves.
I haven’t lost faith in Democracy.
I’ve lost faith in politicians.
I never had faith in the media.
To their credit, it is hard to tell the differences between McCain and Obama on some key issues...
I can hear it now.....”huh?”
“Obviously, it’s going to take even more erosion of our liberties and intrusion into our lives than has already taken place. Not enough Americans are informed enough or affected enough yet to be concerned or irate.”
What do you expect after the baby boomers allowed socialists to take control of our education system. Kids don’t know anything else.
Here then, is one point at which danger may be expected.
The question recurs, "how shall we fortify against it?" The answer is simple. Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor;--let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own, and his children's liberty. Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap--let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs;--let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation; and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars.
Abraham Lincoln
Not having trouble with the idea of America, but having a lot of trouble with WAY too many “americans.”
This is a wonderful country and our Founding Fathers comprised a system that allows all to participate in its guidance.
Throw cynicism to the wind...
The people can overcome this present corruption...
“Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”
George Washington
A democracy is nothing but chaotic mob rule. I prefer what we were given, A REPUBLIC. Unfortunately, we seemed to have let the one we had get away.
“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
Winston Churchill
I say people should have to pass a basic citizenship test in order to be able to vote. It eliminates the people who want to vote based on looks, or buzzwords.
Jonah Goldberg is great on the issue of why we should be trying to limit voter turnout and the lack of knowledge citizens have in our government.
Because (any) democracy is MOB RULE by mobsters..
You should learn a bit about those Founding Fathers.
"Democracy is the most vile form of government... democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention: have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property: and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."ML/NJJames Madison (You know, the Father of the Constitution)
Did you all even bother to read the article? The title may initiate a debate over the choice of word usage, but the body of the article is much more than democracy vs. republic. You seem to be commenting on the questionable title of the article only.
Yes. The mark of poor journalism is commenting upon or pushing a news story based upon polling. The article itself is poorly written and doesn’t even include the question that it says might have been confusing.
“Now, it may just be that poll participants did not fully understand the question on the Declaration of Independence, with some thinking the question was whether the government was actually listening to the will of the people.”
Add to that the fact that it has a lousy and misleading title that betrays the writer/headline writer’s ignorance of the difference between Democracy and a Republic and you end up with what we have here.
You're right in a sense. I am mostly commenting on the title, but I did respond to Lonely Are The Brave's comment about "a system that allows all to participate." Actually for the first 100 years or so, only male, adult, property owners could vote. Those were the days.
ML/NJ
I read what you wrote.. and am reacting the meme that America is a democracy.. and that George Bush calls America a democracy instead of a republic..
-----------------------------------
Democracy is the road to socialism. -Karl Marx
Democracy is indispensable to socialism. The goal of socialism is communism. -V.I. Lenin
The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism .-Karl Marx
No, but I am really concerned about our REPUBLIC.
No European or Canadian government has ever had any rights.. they have privledges..granted by their government..
Hmmm. Not sure how to take that, but it was discussed on another thread, and I agree, that until women got the vote the US had no national debt.
So what do you think of A Nation of Sheep by Napolitano which I’m reading now?
How about limiting the franchise to people who pay income taxes?
Yes, because the presidential primaries are not held on the same day and the later states like mine do not get to participate in the selection. (the front runner is already picked).
I voted for Alan Keys.
Havn't read it but it could be right on.. The nation should not be run by the sheeple but by the sheeple dogs..
They have their natural rights endowed by their creator, what they lack is a government that recognizes this.
Governments can neither give nor take away a man’s natural rights.
Wrong governments do it all the time.. even where the sheep don't vote all their rights away themselves.. Why the American republic is NOT being taken away, its being given away.. Socialism is a political drug that dopes political sensitivity.. numbing good political sense..
So, why are you here...on this forum...
What is your purpose?
Absolutely, I believe in the people and I refuse to become cynical and whatever you may believe in...
What is it...
And, yes, I have read a little about our Founding Fathers who did believe in the people by making The Declaration of Independence.
Again, What do YOU BELIEVE?
“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.”
Thomas Jefferson
If this forum is into censorship then please let me know by banning me. I will not post here anymore.
To ML/NJ...
Why are you here on this forum if you don't believe in the people and Liberty?
Are you a Fascist?
And don't give me that pedantic argument abot Republic versus Democracy.
Again, what do you believe?
Absolutely, I believe in the people...
And, know a little about the Founding Fathers...
“Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves are its only safe depositories.”
Thomas Jefferson
Nam Vet
I think it was the property-owners (aka taxpayers) that was the important part. Now we have non-taxpayers essentially deciding how to split up the taxpayers money. People who receive more money from government than they pay in taxes should not get to vote, and this includes government "workers."
ML/NJ
You're right do know little, very little You have the temerity to quote Mr. Jefferson without having a clue what he stood for. Here's what Mr. Jefferson had to say about your sainted democracies:
A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.Read some history before you criticize people whose backgrounds and level of knowledge you do not know. Your heart is probably in the right place. You write as if you are the victim of a recent public education. But democracy and liberty are very different concepts. And for the record, I believe that most people are incredibly stupid. I do not want them deciding what doctor I should go to &c., and I won't decide for them, if it's okay with you.
ML/NJ
You never did respond to the Fascist question?
You go read...
I have...
“I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master.”
Thomas Jefferson
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