In “Saving the world from democracy,” Phil Lawler waxes political and gives his readers a good civics lesson for today. It is his assessment of what happened two days ago according to the distinction of a democracy from a republic. His read on the loss of power by the wokesters is a good one, I think.
Here are a three nice paragraphs. I’ll follow them up with more thoughts of my own.
A democracy is a government of and by the people, and the US government fits that description [I would actually argue that the present government is an oligarchy, but that’s what democracies inevitably become]. But a republic is a government of limited powers, and our constitutional framework emphasizes that feature as well. The great strength of the American system lies in the combination.
Aristotle taught that a republic tends to decline into a democracy, and a democracy declines into despotism. He reasoned that when the people throw off the constraints of limited government, they grow ever more anxious for new government benefits, and so more willing to give power to a leader who promises to deliver those benefits. But that leader, once firmly in power, finds that he no longer needs popular support, and so he becomes a despot.
During the last few weeks of the presidential campaign, a desperate Kamala Harris warned that the future of American democracy was at stake. She was right—but for the wrong reasons. The danger to our democracy—our republican democracy—was not a Trump dictatorship, but an arrogant liberal elite determined to enforce “woke” ideology on the country.
It remains to be seen where Donald Trump will take things. He sold out the pro-life movement for sure, but not absolutely. Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota just showed us that pro-life victories are possible in the Trumpian, post-Roe political landscape of America. May there be more and more.
Good things can also happen with Rep. Thomas Massie, RFK, Jr., and, possibly Ron Paul being tasked to do things that look suspiciously like “draining the swamp,” an as-yet unfulfilled campaign promise from 2016. On the other hand, if the trigger-happy fingers of the crazed Zionist war-hawk, Mike Pompeo, come anywhere near the levers of power, cheerful optimism would rightly give way to just indignation, at least for me.
And what of Peter Theil, the sodomite technologist who united Trump and Vance in the first place and made the victorious ticket possible? May this little “dark lord” have nothing to do with the new administration. (The Tolkien reference is deliberate: Thiel named his government cyber-espionage company Palantir for a reason. Anyone who knows the significance of the “seeing stones” in Tolkien’s universe should find this horrifying. See James Corbett on him: Part 1, Part 2.)
There is a battle for the soul of America. There is also a battle for the souls of Donald Trump, his vehemently pro-abortion spouse, and those with whom he chooses to surround himself. Let us take seriously our obligation to pray for our civil leaders, local, state, and federal. The Rosary is a powerful weapon we should wield in this spiritual battle.
I desire therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men: For kings, and for all that are in high station: that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all piety and chastity. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus: Who gave himself a redemption for all, a testimony in due times. (1 Tim. 2:2-6)
