Detecting language using up to the first 30 seconds. Use `--language` to specify the language Detected language: English [00:00.000 --> 00:04.720] Memes are not intended as in-depth analysis. Their purpose is to make us [00:04.720 --> 00:10.560] think, to consider something, or just laugh. The other day I posted this meme. [00:10.560 --> 00:15.680] It resulted in the predictable rash of comments saying, America is not a [00:15.680 --> 00:21.800] democracy, it's a republic. And it only got worse from there. [00:21.800 --> 00:31.120] All the comments about America not being a democracy prompted me to write an [00:31.120 --> 00:35.480] analysis and post it on my Dr. Reality Facebook page in the hope of bringing [00:35.480 --> 00:41.760] some reality to the issue. Well, my factual analysis really ticked some [00:41.760 --> 00:46.560] people off. Why? Because they'd adopted the it's a republic not a democracy line [00:46.560 --> 00:50.480] so thoroughly they felt threatened by the facts I laid out. It was as if I was [00:50.480 --> 00:55.040] attacking them personally because they'd so emotionally invested themselves in [00:55.040 --> 00:59.480] that dogma. Let's start with my analysis and then we'll look at some of the [00:59.480 --> 01:04.800] comments. Here's my analysis. People really need to stop saying, America is a [01:04.800 --> 01:08.640] republic not a democracy. When you say that you show you don't understand [01:08.640 --> 01:12.240] either word and because of that you have an incorrect understanding of how our [01:12.240 --> 01:17.840] governments operate. Let's start with the basics. What is a republic? A republic is [01:18.440 --> 01:22.520] simply a national structure on which the constituent parts in the U.S., that would be the states of the [01:22.520 --> 01:26.240] union, are autonomous in their own affairs unrelated to national governance [01:26.240 --> 01:29.680] or international interests and are represented in a body such as Congress [01:29.680 --> 01:34.320] that makes national decisions. A defining element of a true republic is [01:34.320 --> 01:37.920] the autonomy of the constituent parts cannot be taken from them by the [01:37.920 --> 01:42.840] national government. That's it. There is nothing more sexy or complicated to the [01:42.840 --> 01:47.840] meaning of republic than that. What is a democracy? Put simply, if voting takes [01:47.840 --> 01:51.640] place it's a democracy. Democracy is simply the populace expressing its [01:51.640 --> 01:56.680] preferences via ballot for things like officeholders and or initiatives. So what [01:56.680 --> 02:00.000] were men like Jefferson Adams, Hamilton and Franklin talking about when they [02:00.000 --> 02:04.680] condemned democracy? Since democracy as we know it and the founders knew it is [02:04.680 --> 02:09.320] simply the people expressing their preference via ballot and is the very [02:09.320 --> 02:12.280] system the founders chose for their own states in the national government [02:12.520 --> 02:15.640] clearly they were not condemning the very system they themselves put in place. [02:15.640 --> 02:20.760] What the founders were referring to when they condemned democracy was pure [02:20.760 --> 02:24.920] democracy, not representative democracy. Remember the founders were incredibly [02:24.920 --> 02:28.280] well-schooled in history. What they were referring to and what their writing is [02:28.280 --> 02:32.560] virtually always made clear by using the past tense was the ancient democracies. [02:32.560 --> 02:36.680] Most ancient democracies were what we call today pure democracies. Every [02:36.680 --> 02:40.320] citizen voted personally on every matter. There were a couple of pure [02:40.360 --> 02:43.200] democracies on the North American continent when Europeans first stepped [02:43.200 --> 02:46.520] off the boat. Those communities existed in a time when there were no formal [02:46.520 --> 02:49.600] government structures on the continent and they had only a few hundred people [02:49.600 --> 02:52.960] in their community. Currently there are only a few pure democracies in the [02:52.960 --> 02:57.200] world. They are the system used by a couple of small local communities, none [02:57.200 --> 03:02.520] in the US. In summary, the founders condemned ancient pure democracies. The [03:02.520 --> 03:06.120] states of the Union and the federal government are representative [03:06.120 --> 03:10.880] democracies exactly as the founders intended. In the modern world there are [03:10.880 --> 03:16.040] no nations using pure democracy and there is no conflict between a nation [03:16.040 --> 03:22.360] being a republic and a representative democracy. That's the end of my posted [03:22.360 --> 03:26.320] analysis. Now let's look at some of the bizarre attempts to maintain their [03:26.320 --> 03:30.560] emotional connection to the dogma that America is a republic, not a democracy. [03:31.000 --> 03:37.040] One commenter said this, quote, the United States Constitution clearly states that [03:37.040 --> 03:40.880] the states of the Union and the federal government are indeed a republic. The [03:40.880 --> 03:47.240] founders never once mentioned the word democracy in the Constitution. Okay, guess [03:47.240 --> 03:52.720] what else is never once mentioned in the Constitution? Rights, as in the rights we [03:52.720 --> 03:58.520] supposedly value so much in this country. We see this kind of image all the time, [03:58.520 --> 04:03.240] but guess what? That title, Bill of Rights, does not appear in the US [04:03.240 --> 04:09.120] Constitution anywhere. The word democracy means the populace expressing its [04:09.120 --> 04:13.360] political will by voting. Allow me to share a sentence with you from the US [04:13.360 --> 04:17.360] Constitution, quote, the House of Representatives shall be composed of [04:17.360 --> 04:23.160] members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, close quote. [04:24.080 --> 04:31.880] That is the definition of democracy. Let me go a bit further with this. Imagine [04:31.880 --> 04:36.680] if I described something to you this way. There is a flat horizontal platform [04:36.680 --> 04:40.960] about 16 by 16 inches, extending down vertically from the platform we see four [04:40.960 --> 04:45.320] legs about 16 inches in length, each leg anchored to a corner of the 16 by 16 [04:45.320 --> 04:49.080] horizontal platform, extending up vertically from the corners of one edge [04:49.080 --> 04:53.560] of the 16 by 16 horizontal platform. We see two upright pieces about 20 inches [04:53.560 --> 04:57.040] in length. Between those two uprights are a couple of horizontal cross members. [04:57.240 --> 05:00.640] Several of these objects are typically found arranged around a dining room table. [05:00.760 --> 05:04.880] Humans place their buttocks on the 16 by 16 horizontal platform, often rusting [05:04.880 --> 05:09.320] their back on the cross members between the two upright pieces. But it's not a [05:09.320 --> 05:16.560] chair, because I didn't say the word chair. So because the word democracy [05:16.560 --> 05:20.640] doesn't appear in the Constitution, you know, like the word rights doesn't [05:20.640 --> 05:26.080] appear. We don't vote and we don't have rights. When you see that kind of [05:26.080 --> 05:29.440] thinking, it's easy to understand why the founders had some serious [05:29.440 --> 05:35.320] reservations about universal suffrage. Here's an interesting exchange. The [05:35.320 --> 05:39.360] commenter said, The Constitution guarantees a Republican form of [05:39.360 --> 05:43.160] government. What do you think is meant by that? And why was it important? I [05:43.160 --> 05:47.840] responded, Our system of federalism is what keeps the guarantee operative. The [05:47.840 --> 05:51.560] commenter replied, Do you feel in today's political system that the national [05:51.560 --> 05:55.520] government is subordinate to the states? This is what I find so [05:55.520 --> 05:59.440] frustrating. He does not understand how our system of federalism operates. The [05:59.440 --> 06:02.840] federal government and the governments of the states occupy different areas of [06:02.840 --> 06:06.400] authority. Neither is to be subordinate to the other because they don't have [06:06.400 --> 06:10.440] the same areas of responsibilities. The states which created the federal [06:10.440 --> 06:13.840] government exercise a check on federal actions through representatives and [06:13.840 --> 06:17.720] senators, the people of the states of the unions and the Congress. Jedidiah [06:17.720 --> 06:23.320] asks a sincere question. He says, Aren't states rights supposed to supersede [06:23.320 --> 06:28.720] federal law? The most basic example is legalizing marijuana. Hey, great question. [06:28.720 --> 06:33.160] Earlier I said the federal government and the states have their own areas of [06:33.160 --> 06:37.320] responsibility. And that's true. And Jedidiah's question highlights an area [06:37.320 --> 06:43.240] in which the United States Supreme Court really screwed shit up. Federal drug [06:43.240 --> 06:47.680] laws as they operate domestically are restricted to certain substances moving [06:47.680 --> 06:52.040] in interstate commerce. Leaving aside for the moment the issue that regulating [06:52.040 --> 06:56.040] commerce between the states was never intended by the founders to provide a [06:56.040 --> 07:00.160] mechanism for criminalizing any substance. The Supreme Court truly [07:00.160 --> 07:04.280] screwed the pooch when in a case called race, it ruled in 2004 that in order to [07:04.280 --> 07:07.520] effectively enforce federal marijuana laws, the federal government would have [07:07.520 --> 07:12.840] to also be able to reach into the states and control interstate weed activity. If [07:12.840 --> 07:17.640] there was ever a case of the founders rolling over in their graves, race is it. [07:17.640 --> 07:22.560] Along with Wickard v. Filbert. In race, the court essentially said that in order [07:22.560 --> 07:26.200] to make sure a power the federal government was not granted by the [07:26.200 --> 07:30.640] Constitution can be effectively exercised, the government has to be [07:30.640 --> 07:34.640] allowed to intrude into another area, intrastate commerce, concerning which the [07:34.640 --> 07:38.440] federal government has also not been granted authority by the Constitution. [07:38.440 --> 07:43.480] Lots of people opined that the United States is a constitutional republic. [07:43.480 --> 07:49.160] Cool. Then I expect you'd always say you drive a motorized vehicle. Not just a [07:49.160 --> 07:54.160] vehicle, but a motorized vehicle. I wonder what people think they're gaining [07:54.160 --> 07:59.240] by claiming that it's only an accurate description if the word constitutional [07:59.240 --> 08:05.400] is placed in front of republic. Is there a non-constitutional republic? If you [08:05.400 --> 08:09.960] tell someone you just drove over in your car, is that description lacking or [08:09.960 --> 08:14.880] inaccurate because you didn't say you came over in your motorized car? Some [08:14.880 --> 08:20.240] folks commented that America is a democratic republic. Okay, sure. But I see [08:20.240 --> 08:24.360] that like I do putting constitutional in front of republic. Since in all true [08:24.360 --> 08:28.120] republics, the constituent jurisdictions comprising the nation vote in the [08:28.120 --> 08:33.400] national legislature, democratic is both apparent and obvious. I understand why [08:33.400 --> 08:36.400] that phrase might be used in say a junior high school civics class to make [08:36.400 --> 08:41.520] sure youngsters who know nothing about this subject grasp it correctly, but as [08:41.520 --> 08:46.560] adults? Again, it's like saying you drove a motorized vehicle to make sure people [08:46.560 --> 08:52.400] understand your car as a motor. Another fellow said a republic limits the power [08:52.560 --> 08:59.920] of the government. Okay, which governments? A constitution limits the power of [08:59.920 --> 09:03.920] government. In a republic, the national government simply has fewer areas of [09:03.920 --> 09:09.920] authority, but not lesser authority in those areas. Another gentleman brought up [09:09.920 --> 09:14.600] the issue of individual rights, which is, at least in theory, important to good [09:14.600 --> 09:18.080] governance in America. I say in theory because I cannot but notice that a lot [09:18.080 --> 09:22.720] of people in this country care passionately about their own rights, but [09:22.720 --> 09:26.880] don't give a shit about anyone else's. Academically speaking, the issue of [09:26.880 --> 09:30.320] individual rights exists separate from the question of whether a nation is a [09:30.320 --> 09:33.840] democracy or a republic. But of course, in America, we tend to see them as [09:33.840 --> 09:38.280] indivisible because of our upbringing. For today, suffice to say they are [09:38.280 --> 09:42.680] divisible outside the US. And finally, several times I have referred to [09:42.680 --> 09:47.600] something I called a true republic. What did I mean by that? Simple. Any nation [09:47.600 --> 09:51.240] can incorporate the word republic into its national name or use it repeatedly [09:51.240 --> 09:54.640] in its national mantras. That doesn't mean it meets the definition of [09:54.640 --> 09:58.360] actually being a republic. The Soviet Union, the full name of which was the [09:58.360 --> 10:02.560] Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was not remotely a republic. It was a [10:02.560 --> 10:05.920] single party dictatorship in which every client state was held in bondage under [10:05.920 --> 10:10.600] the threat of death or destruction. A current version of that is China, whose [10:10.600 --> 10:16.160] full name is the People's Republic of China. Same shit as the Soviets. I hope [10:16.160 --> 10:18.920] you found this presentation to be informative. Thanks for being here. Take [10:18.920 --> 10:19.720] care. Bye bye.