Why The Left Hates It When You Point Out We’re ‘A Republic’
Ask the contemporary leftists who target virtually every protection we have against mob rule in the name of democracy attacking the Supreme Court, the Electoral College, federalism, the filibuster, the Senate, and even the existence of states. They understand the difference, even if just intuitively.
Ask leftists who treat the popular vote, not as a wishcasting cope, but as means of legitimizing presidential elections. Those who want a few big states ruling the nation via a direct federal democracy are not interested in an American republic.
Blunting the federal government s power over states and the state s power over individuals is an indispensable way to ensure a diverse people in a huge nation can govern themselves and live freely. The save democracy types who refer to these long-standing federalist institutions as minority rule do not view democracy and a constitutional republic as interchangeable concepts.
Neither do smaller blue-state governors who sign a national vote compact that not only dilutes their state s power but circumvents the Constitution. They love a direct democracy. A constitutional republic? Not so much.
When writers at The Atlantic, where Applebaum is a contributor, talk about The Democrats Last Chance to Save Democracy, they aren t lamenting Biden s unprecedented executive abuse, but the democratic deficits in the Senate and the Electoral College as if these institutions weren t specifically instituted to diffuse centralized control. They know the difference.
Democrats who want to expand the Supreme Court for failing to follow democratic trends, don t care about the republic. After all, many of the high court s most historic decisions, including Dred Scott and Plessy, cut the legs out from under democracy.
Or take the so-called moderate Democrats who want to get rid of the filibuster or use the slimmest of fleeting majorities to shove through massive, generational federal reforms without any national consensus Obamacare or The Deficit Reduction Act [sic]. They re aware that reforms will overturn hundreds of state and local laws. They want local minorities subordinate to the whims and vagaries of national majorities.
Then again, the more democracy we have, the more demagoguery thrives. Of course they re fans.
David Harsanyi.
True, true, it’s all true. Viva la Republic.