Happy Constitution Day. Here's a refresher:

by: Josh White ( @WhiteJoshuaL )

We are a Constitutional Republic, and that's not just semantics; it's foundational to our system of governance. We are not a democracy, nor a democratic form of government. But let's be clear: democracy is not a form of a republic. They are distinct forms of government with key differences. A Republic is a government in which the country is considered a "public matter" and the head of state is an elected or appointed official. A Democracy, on the other hand, is ruled by the omnipotent majority. The United States is a Constitutional Republic with a republican form of government per Article IV Section IV. It is not a democracy, nor a democratic form of government. This distinction is not a mere semantic quibble. It's fundamental to our system of government and the protections it affords us. Also just to be clear neither the republican form of government nor the democratic form of government are to be confused with either party. James Madison warned us about the dangers of democracies in Federalist No. 10. He said, "Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths." Our founders were scholars of history. They studied every system of government throughout history. It wasn't something they hastily chose without research as Democrats would love us to believe. The Ancient Republic of Rome existed simultaneously and completely independent from Athenian Greek democracy. Both had voting as did many other forms of government before them. Our government was designed to be slow and deliberative for a reason. Changes to fundamental laws and policies should not be made lightly or impulsively. They should be the result of careful consideration and broad agreement respecting the consent of the governed. And contrary to popular belief, "We the People" does not mean "We the Majority". The 9th and 10th Amendments further affirm the federal government is to adhere to the consent of the governed, not control them. In summary, the word "democracy" isn't even found in our founding documents, nor is a democratic form of government. "We the People" does not mean "We the Majority." Our nation was founded as a Constitutional Republic to protect the rights of the individual from the whims of the majority and we are guaranteed a republican form of government not a democratic form per Article IV Section IV of the United States Constitution. The confusion you're boasting about in the change of language is actually Orwellian Newspeak, and it was deliberately changed to democracy so that eventually people would forget we were ever a Constitutional Republic to begin with.