The Rule of Law in a Republic

I just watched this phenomenal video, " The American Form of Government," via Next Right. Do yourself a favor and spend ten minutes watching and enjoying this marvel of clarity in elementary political theory:

During the video's discussion of the founding of our nation, the narrator says, "the Founders chose to give us the rule of a republic, not the rule of the majority in a democracy."

The reason is obvious, of course, as pure democracy is synonymous with mob rule, and in the absence of legal and institutional checks on majority power, tyranny results - and as the video indicates, mob rule devolves into rule by oligarchy in the name of the "people," the result itself of popular demands for the collectivization of society's product and redistribution of society's wealth; this then creates mass impoverishment, followed in turn by anarchy in the streets and then a popular outcry to "restore order." The popular democratic government metastasizes into an oligarchic dictatorship, and individual liberty and personal security become a thing of the past.

Watch the whole video, and read the whole post, "From Rick Santelli to Limited Government, Fiscal Responsibility and Free Markets."

What an afternoon delight!

**********

And seriously, think about this as the current ACORN civil disobedience mob takes over homes in Baltimore, with impicit encouragement via the Barack Obama administration's mortgage entitlement program. It's not all abstract theory, folks.