Replies

"Er, he proposes neither a democracy nor a constitutional republic but rather a benevolent Catholic dictatorship"

I was referring to the defense of democracy spread used as a thinly veiled assault on Catholicism. This is particularly in light of the constant defense of the "Enlightened Absolutism" that was the hell hole of Calvin's Geneva.

Every Catholic I know prefers a constitutional republic to protect the individual rights given us by God. "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." (Gal 5:1)

Given the choice between the transitional soft tyranny of secular democracy and a benevolent Catholic dictatorship I will choose the later.

Seems to me,

the tones, word choices, attitudes of dictatorship

tends to reek from posts above your screen name.

Must be a coincidence.

Given the choice between the transitional soft tyranny of secular democracy and a benevolent Catholic dictatorship I will choose the later.

You want to have a little Catholic dictator ? Pack your bags and move yourself to Venezuela .

Every Catholic I know prefers a constitutional republic to protect the individual rights given us by God.

Then you can thank these Calvinists, among a great many others;

The 55 Framers (from North to South):

John Langdon, Congregationalist (Calvinist)
Nicholas Gilman, Congregationalist (Calvinist)
Elbridge Gerry, Episcoplian (Calvinist)
Rufus King, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
Caleb Strong, Congregationalist (Calvinist)
Nathaniel Gorham, Congregationalist (Calvinist)
Roger Sherman, Congregationalist (Calvinist)
William Samuel Johnson, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
Oliver Ellsworth, Congregationalist (Calvinist)
Alexander Hamilton, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
John Lansing, Dutch Reformed (Calvinist)
Robert Yates, Dutch Reformed (Calvinist)
William Patterson, Presbyterian (Calvinist)
William Livingston, Presbyterian (Calvinist)
Jonathan Dayton, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
David Brearly, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
William Churchill Houston, Presbyterian (Calvinist)
Benjamin Franklin, Christian in his youth, Deist in later years,
then back to his Puritan background in his old age
(his June 28, 1787 prayer at the Constitutional Convention was from no "Deist")
Robert Morris, Episcopalian, (Calvinist)
James Wilson, probably a Deist
Gouverneur Morris, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
Thomas Mifflin, Lutheran (Calvinist-lite)
George Clymer, Quaker turned Episcopalian (Calvinist)
Thomas FitzSimmons, Roman Catholic
Jared Ingersoll, Presbyterian (Calvinist)
John Dickinson, Quaker turned Episcopalian (Calvinist)
George Read, Episcopalian, (Calvinist)
Richard Bassett, Methodist
Gunning Bedford, Presbyterian (Calvinist)
Jacob Broom, Lutheran
Luther Martin, Episcopalian, (Calvinist)
Daniel Carroll, Roman Catholic
John Francis Mercer, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
James McHenry, Presbyterian (Calvinist)
Daniel of St Thomas Jennifer, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
George Washington, Episcopalian (Calvinist; no, he was not a deist)
James Madison, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
George Mason, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
Edmund Jennings Randolph, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
James Blair, Jr., Episcopalian (Calvinist)
James McClung, ?
George Wythe, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
William Richardson Davie, Presbyterian (Calvinist)
Hugh Williamson, Presbyterian, possibly later became a Deist
William Blount, Presbyterian (Calvinist)
Alexander Martin, Presbyterian/Episcopalian (Calvinist)
Richard Dobbs Spaight, Jr., Episcopalian (Calvinist)
John Rutledge, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, III, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
Abraham Baldwin, Congregationalist (Calvinist)
William Leigh Pierce, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
William Houstoun, Episcopalian (Calvinist)
William Few, Methodist

For further consideration, at the bottom of this page; http://religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/sacred/dutch_indepen_1581.html --- The Dutch Declaration of Independence 1581
can be found

Translator's Introduction:

Toward the end of the Middle Ages, many of the large cities of the Netherlands had bought or won charters giving them many rights of freedom, but when Charles V came to the throne of Spain he disregarded these charters. When Calvinism spread over the Low Countries he introduced the Inquisition and tried to root it out. Philip II of Spain increased the persecution. The people rebelled in 1566 and the Duke of Alva was sent into the country to put down the rebellion. The people elected William of Orange as their leader, and the Dutch Revolt began. The war lasted for forty years with varied fortunes. The Prince of Orange was assassinated in 1584, but the struggle went on under his second son, Prince Maurice, a boy of seventeen. First England and then France came to their aid. Finally in 1609 a truce was established which ended in the acknowledgment of the provinces in 1648 as one of the provisions of the Treaty of Westphalia.

The declaration given [above] -- the first in modern times -- brings forward prominently the great idea that rulers are responsible to the people and can be deposed by them. The growth of this idea is center of the development of constitutional and republican government.

Oliver J. Thatcher (1907)

Every Catholic in my family would agree that a constitutional republic is preferred over a pure democracy or a benevolent Catholic dictatorship.

Indeed, I would never agree to a benevolent Catholic dictatorship because there are always mere mortal occupying the throne. We must wait for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. – Isaiah 9:6

God's Name is I AM.