Republic v. Democracy

The letter “Election Interference” attacks the decision of the Colorado Supreme Court denying Mr. Trump a place on the state primary ballot. Ms. Thorn rhetorically asks: “Are we a democracy?” To that query I point out that the GOP has claimed for decades that we are not. They often say we are in fact a “republic” and correctly point out that the Constitution is parsimonious about actual direct vote democracy. This is because the Founders of the nation believed that democracy, without rules, led to anarchy. Consequently they drafted a controlling document which is the Constitution of the nation. This document lays out many constraints on “democracy” in the U.S. Among them are the specific requirements of age, place of birth, and the prohibition against holding office by those who engage in insurrection. These prohibitions are enforced by officers of the government and reviewed by the nation’s courts as cases come to them.

This is what happened in Colorado. This decision will be appealed and heard by Federal courts. Whatever the final decision, we as members of our constitutional republic have a duty to accept their ruling and move on without further rebellion and with courtesy so that the nation can continue the “democracy” experiment. It does us and our nation huge damage to attribute every loss of “your side” to political bias and evilness of the other side.