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A Republic, if We Can Keep it

Our constitution is like no other anywhere in the world

By Lauralee O’Neil

As we celebrated Constitution Day on Sept. 17 I prayed we all remember that we, the citizens of this great country, are celebrating over 200 years of freedom and individual rights because of the U.S. Constitution. Our constitution is like no other anywhere in the world, guaranteeing us liberty and justice for all.

Today so many in the mainstream media – as well as most of our government servants, refer to our form of government as a “democracy.” And yet nowhere in the constitution does the word democracy appear. Coming from the Greeks, democracy denotes government by the people, which basically means rule by popular opinion. That form of government totally ignores our God-given individual rights. As John Adams famously warned, “Remember, Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy that ‘did not commit suicide.’”

There was deliberate and significant intention behind our founding fathers creating for us a Republican form of government. Republic, from the Latin res publica, which translates as “The public affairs,” means literally that we are governed by law. A Republic serves to hold in check those who would infringe on our individual rights. Our Republic, through our U.S. Constitution, was established to govern the government and not the people.

For many years now our government has increasingly been ignoring its constitutional boundaries, centralizing power through the three branches – legislative, executive and judicial.

As one who stands firmly behind our U.S. Constitution, I put the question to you: Are we going to keep our Republic? Personally I pledge my allegiance to the Republic, one nation under God.

Lauralee O’Neil
Kalispell