By David Robb ——Bio and Archives--April 24, 2024
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Two political parties, two philosophies of government and now two divisions struggling for the power to determine the future of this nation. How did we get here? What does each advocate? Who belongs?
The names originate from the names of the two basic approaches to decision making within a system of government. The Democrat name arises from DEMOCracy, where decisions are made through a process of majority vote. In its basic form, results are determined through 50% plus one vote, although the majority required may be set to some other fraction. The word "democracy" comes from the Greek word "demos", which means "people".
Likewise, the Republican party derives its name from the idea that REPresentatives of the PUBLIC can best guide and choose appropriate government policies and actions, based on the desires of those people who have chosen them as their representatives. The Latin word "publus" means "people" or "the public".
Neither system is perfect, being of human creation, but are the two that, throughout history, have been those most responsive to the will of the people, rather than the will of some small number of powerful elites such as kings or dictators. To understand the positions of the groups today, it is necessary to see how they came to be and how they differ in their ideas and ideals.
We can begin with Democrats. Andrew Jackson was the first Democrat President in 1828. In many ways, the Democrat party began well, advocating limited government and supporting individual rights and liberties. It is from a cartoon of Jackson's time that the donkey became the symbol of the Democrat party.
It was Jackson, though, who supported the Indian Relocation Act that forced five Indian tribes to be removed from their traditional homes in the Eastern US to new territories in Oklahoma and other western lands foreign to them. Due to the suffering the forced relocation caused, it became known as the "Trail of Tears".
While the Democrat party continued in its opposition to corporate influence in government, it also supported the institution of slavery. Throughout its history, a common thread is the belief that some races are inherently superior to others and that the superior should rule over the inferior. Also during its early history, the party increasingly grew to believe that increased government effort was needed to ensure that certain social objectives, falling under the general heading of Progressivism, were promoted.
Democrat President Woodrow Wilson in 1913 was an advocate of "professional" government, believing that government had become too complex for ordinary people to understand and that our system of electing common people to serve in government was flawed. It was through his efforts that the roots of the modern administrative state were planted.
Wilson also subscribed to the ideas of Eugenics and the superiority of certain races. In his term, he segregated government service, relegating blacks to minor offices, or removing them altogether. One of the first globalists, he founded the League of Nations which later was reconstituted as the United Nations.
His segregationist acts set back years of progress for blacks that had followed the Civil War. While supporting women's suffrage, and professing a policy of isolationism and neutrality, his racist attitudes and his support for the First World War, were a study in contradictions. His entry into WWI was proclaimed a crusade to make the world "safe for democracy"
Franklin D Roosevelt, one of the most influential Democrat Presidents, continued and expanded Democrat policies, including expansion of government scope and authority. Many of his "New Deal" policies were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, leading to his threats to pack the court with his supporters if the Court did not support his policies.
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The Democrat party has presented itself throughout its history as the party of the people, the supporter of the "little man", and advocate for the rights of individuals. In typical contradictory fashion, it has opposed civil rights for blacks, supported collectivist organizations such as labor unions over individuals, expanded government authority at the expense of individual liberties, and recently been supportive of large corporate entities and a Fascist state corporatism in the form of public-private partnerships.
Currently the Democrat party presents itself as the party that seeks to protect and promote "our Democracy". Aside from the fact that our system of government is that of a Republic, their promotion of the idea that we have a democracy has been successful in sowing confusion about the nature of a democracy.
Our founders were rightly opposed to the idea of a democracy. They were well informed in history, and knew that from the time of its roots in Athens of ancient Greece to the present that those societies that attempted to practice democracy always failed in one way or another. Either they fragmented and were taken over by stronger powers, or they devolved into autocracies of some sort.
The danger inherent in a pure democracy is that it is a "winner-take-all" system. Those who win a majority assume power believing that they have a mandate to pursue their policies without consideration or regard for the desires of the minority, even if that minority is nearly as large as the majority that elected them. In essence, a democracy elects rulers.
In a Republic, on the other hand, the representatives are chosen to be wise judges of policy, and while being advocates for those whom they represent, must also consider other interests and chose the best course available for the good of their nation. In this way, they are chosen to be leaders who seek to find paths that best reflect the will of all the people.
The founders recognized that times and circumstances could change priorities, and that the will of the people was neither monolithic nor static, but rather an expression and balance of many diverse groups. They knew that debate, discussion, free sharing of ideas, and proposals were essential to determining good policy and courses of actions. The constitution of our new Nation as a Republic was a highly informed choice to create a system that would take all views and positions into account, and not just those of a transient majority.
Hence, the Republican party. Formed in 1854 in opposition to the Democrat policies of slavery and the Democrat expansion of slavery into new territories, it advocated abolition of slavery, individual economic rights in the form of laissez-faire capitalism, low taxes, minimal government intrusion in society and other conservative principles. Similar to the Democrats, a cartoon by Thomas Nast provided the elephant as the symbol of the Republican party.
As the party of individual rights, low taxes, minimal government, and generally conservative values, the Republican party lacks much of the activist history of the Democrats. In large measure it has stood in opposition to government expansion and interference in individual affairs as well as intrusion into economic affairs. It has promoted equal justice, rule of law, civil rights for blacks and other minorities, property rights, and generally free market capitalism.
The first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, known for freeing the slaves, is exemplary of the Republican party. Republican policies implemented during periods of Republican presidencies have often set the stage for extended periods of economic prosperity and individual opportunity for which subsequent Democrat administrations have claimed credit.
The success of the Republican party, especially in civil rights and economic opportunity, has prompted a claim of a "Great Switch" by Democrats. Under this idea, Democrats claim that sometime in the mid 1960s, the positions of the two parties switched, and Democrats became the party of civil rights, support for blacks, eliminating corporate influence in government, and use of government to promote general welfare. A simple examination of actual history will amply show the "switch" never happened, and this idea as an attempt by Democrats to claim credit for the policies of Republicans.
Of late, the Democratic party has become the party of big government, big business, restrictions on individual liberties, censorship, and even perversion.
Republicans (with a few exceptions) continue to be the party of freedom of speech and religion, economic freedom, property rights, rule of law, minimal government, and many other conservative values that have served this country, and even the world, so well.
This country, and even the rest of the world, are at a crossroads. Do we want the Democratic path where we choose rulers and where the individual exists to serve the State, or do we want the Republican path with representative leaders and a State that exists to serve and protect the rights of individuals? The choice is clearer than in has been for decades, if ever.
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David Robb is a practicing scientist and CTO of a small firm developing new security technologies for detection of drugs and other contraband. Dave has published extensively in TheBlueStateConservative, and occasionally in American Thinker.