Democracy
(A chance for the mob to choose.)
vs.
DEMAGOGUE
(The choice of the mob.)
“For several hundred years after the early 8th century BC, many of the city-states of Greece were republican in form. Carthage was likewise a republic for more than 300 years, until its destruction by the Romans in 146 BC. For nearly 500 years, Rome itself was a republic in which virtually all free males were eventually franchised. One of the oldest extant republic is the state of San Marino on the Italian Peninsula, about 225 km (about 140 mi.) north of Rome. According to tradition, it was established as a republic in the second part of the 4th century AD.” There are many kinds, types, and examples of Republics and Democracies in the world today, but the oldest has been kept a secret for too long.
On first examination, it does not seem that a Republic, in itself, is beneficial to freedom or a particularly benign form of government, that is, if you used The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or The Peoples' Republic of China as your model and yardstick for the measurement of individual freedom in a Republic.
Those examples are countries whose constituency resides in a Communist regime within their respective Republics. This fact, as well as their social history and custom, may have led to their present state. Now, the Soviet Union is supposedly no more and Russia has become a democracy of sorts within and under their present government that still operates within the original Russian Republic. Even China is now moving in its own inscrutable way toward democracy, but only within the authority and restrictions of its laws, society, and historical custom.
All this, while America seems to becoming a more restrictive society with less and less individual freedoms. “Those who already walk submissively say there is no need for alarm. But submissiveness is not our heritage. The First Amendment was designed to allow rebellion against usurpation to remain as our birthright. The Constitution was designed to keep government off the backs of the people.... The aim was to allow men to be free and independent and to assert their rights against government… The America once extolled as the voice of liberty heard around the world no longer is cast in the image which Jefferson and Madison designed, but more in the Russian image…”
There is a distinct difference between a Democracy and a Republic. Although a republic may use a democratic vote to choose its representatives, who exercise a specified and restricted authority, the sovereignty rest in the hands, heart, and head of the individual constituent. A Democracy, on the other hand, is a pooling of rights of all sorts, which are vested in the majority, who rule collectively or through their leaders who are elected. The Democracy's power to regulate, tax, and dominate may be limited by a contract or constitution, but the Constitution may be expanded in scope by a larger consensus of the voters.
“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.”
The original American colonies were Republics. “Our forefathers, inhabitants of the island of Great Britain, left their native land, to seek on these shores a residence for civil and religious freedom:”
In a republic, the State (status, estate… resting in the rights of the freeman) is independent of its government. A freeman was free from civil authority and religiously allowed to accept or reject his God as King. The word “republic” was used because those early pilgrims and separatists knew its origins. It is a shortened form of the Latin idiom “Libera res Publica”, meaning “free from things public.” The heads of the government were “titular” in authority, meaning they held authority “in name only.”
“Government is not sovereignty. Government is the machinery or expedient for expressing the will of the sovereign power… This sovereign power in our government belongs to the People, and the government of the United States and the governments of the several states are but the machinery for expounding or expressing the will of the sovereign power… But it must be remembered, under our government, all sovereign power is lodged in the People; and the government, by its different departments, can exercise only such power as has been delegated to it by the People. None of these delegated powers can be by the government delegated to someone else. They are only granted to the government to be in proper cases exercised by it, and not to be given to another to be exercised by that other… Because neither Congress nor the treaty making power can grant away the sovereign powers of the government, but they can only exercise them for the People to whom they belong.”
It is important to realize that, in a Republic, the sovereign power is not collective, but individualistic. It rests in the individual Patriarchs of each family unit. The Family is the essential building block of a true Theocratic Republic. Undermine the family and you undermine the Republic.
From its first inception, the Republic was under attack, but it was in the second century of its existence that the United States, a democracy within a Republic, was able to make some of its greatest advancements by the greatest inroads against the Family.
In the 1928 U.S. Army Training Manual, it attempted to define democracy and, therefore, defines an earlier American perception of a democracy:
“DEMOCRACY: A government of the masses. Authority derived through mass meeting or any form of direct expression. Results in mobocracy. Attitude toward property is communistic - negating property rights. Attitude toward law is that the will of the majority shall regulate, whether it is based upon deliberation or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard for consequences. Results in demagogism, license, agitation, discontent, anarchy.”
In June 1952, “The Soldiers Guide” contained the following definition and changing attitude:
“Meaning of democracy: Because the United States is a democracy, the majority of the people decide how our government will be organized and run - and that includes the Army, Navy and Air Force. The people do this by electing representatives, and these men and women carry out the wishes of the people.”
If Samuel made it clear that it was evil for Israel to desire a ruler, king, judge, e.g. Sovereign, other than God Himself over them, then how much more evil is it for the collective citizens of the US to desire to be the sovereign over each and every citizen within that created jurisdiction?
“Under a democratic government, the citizens exercise the powers of sovereignty; and those powers will be first abused, and afterwards lost, if they are committed to an unwieldy multitude.”
In those early days, we were called a republic. Today, the United States is called a federal democracy, “democracy” being “mob rule” and ”federal“ from the French word for “feudal”. But has the seat of the authority of government changed? Are we still a republic? The Declaration of Independence only made American republics independent from that limited authority that had remained in the hands of the king, due to our charters and his usurpation. It was the king who revolted against the law of the contract, the charters, by the attempted “usurpation”, “to seize a use” not justly his. He was not unlike the Pharaoh of old, who tried, on the shores of the Red Sea, to unlawfully, though unsuccessfully, withdraw consent already given to those God-fearing Israelites preparing to serve the LORD of lords.
“I believe in the United States of America as a government… whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed: a democracy in a republic.”
In the story “A Tale of Two Alamos,” Hutton refers to “Travis’ line in the dust” as “that sublime moment of democratic choice.” As the story goes, William Barret Travis gave his men a choice of leaving or staying to fight a ”hopeless“ battle. All the men stayed but one Louis Rose, who climbed the wall and escaped to tell the story and open a meat market in Nacogdochea. When asked why he didn’t stay, his reply was “By God, I wasn’t ready to die.”
If he had been given a democratic choice, he would have been compelled to stay by the will of the mob. It would have been both a sublime act of democracy and his last. Fortunately, it was a sublime moment of individual choice in the Republic of Texas that allowed Rose to live.
So, a democracy is a kind of common purse of rights. Even though the democracy may exist within a Republic, it may grant duties and privileges that may be legally incumbent upon its members. In a democracy, the president may not be titular and the State may not be separate from its government. One would be more likely to be electing their leaders rather than mere representatives.
BUSINESS 1. n. business, occupation, employment, employ… Employ ”Equitable conversion.“
Just as the individual Republican State governments were established to continue their work legislating the remedies in equity and business that were not available at the common law, so also was the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution established by those states to take over the limited responsibilities and privileges that had defaulted from the hands of the king and his parliament.
“It is easy to escape business, if you will only despise the rewards of business.”
The repugnance of Equity, Mercantilism and Commercial laws, which are not law, but followed the law and became the law through contract, were at the core of the motivating spirits of the Separatists, pilgrims, and Quakers, who risked all for a residence of civil and religious freedom on these shores. They had become almost untaxable, except for tariffs on foreign trade and excise tax upon the ‘uses’ not held in fee-simple. Since the common law was not regulated by statute, then the legislature created by the Constitution for the United States did not appear to be the threat to individual freedom, rights, and responsibility that it has become. Who could have known what twists and turns and metamorphosis this system and society would take in the years to follow!
“Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.” (Pr. 1:14,16)
The Constitution of the United States was simply an agreement between individual governments, which were only republics with little dominion or authority over the people. It was generally an unpopular agreement and, had it been important enough to be put to a vote, it would have never been past. What did those people see and understand in finding the Constitution so objectionable that we do not?
“If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering, but if we neglect its instruction and authority, No man can tell how soon a catastrophe may overcome us, and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”
Citizenship of or in government as a person, as opposed to Natural Citizenship as an inhabitant, is a privilege granted or denied and regulated by a government, created according to the rules established by that government. If an individual wishes to join and become a person in a legal society and be governed by the rules of that society’s government, then he is legally bound to abide by the rules of that created society. He bars himself from his own liberty and becomes a surety for the debt of his benefactor.
“And God spake all these words, saying, I [am] the LORD thy God [Ruler], which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [Ruler] [am] a jealous God [Ruler], visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God [Ruler] in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” (Exodus 20:1, 7)
“Some scholars regard the ancient confederation of Hebrew tribes that endured in Palestine from the 15th century BC until a monarchy was established about 1020 BC as an embryonic republic. That would make the ancient Israelite commonwealth the earliest republic in history and one of the oldest democracies; except for slaves and women, all members of the community had a voice in the selection of their administrators and were eligible for political office.”
The Bible was not establishing a religion, but a Government, because “The law given from Sinai was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code…”
“If we will not be governed by God, then we will be ruled by tyrants.”
If the powers that would be are to blame for our ascent into a subjective citizenship, then we would not be truly subject, for there would be no consent. But the con-artist succeeds, not because of his own larceny, but because of the larceny in the heart of those he has tempted and deceived.
“And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you:” (II Peter 2,2-3)
“The people never give up their liberties except under some dilution.”
“According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my name:” (Ezekiel 39,24-25).
“All who have ever written on government are unanimous, that among people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist.”
All the people, who have beseeched government, voted for taxes that enrich themselves personally, and applied for those gifts, gratuities, and benefits offered so temptingly by government have by those acts and deeds and words, coveted their neighbors goods and made them their own through the powers of their governing body.
“When statesmen forsake their consciences for what they consider the public good, they lead the country down the short road to chaos.”
“I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those powers than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
Upon entering into a democratic society, individuals must give up a share of their liberty. But isn’t a democracy good? It is the people choosing, not just for themselves, but also their brother. All that the individual person owns as a citizen in The United States Federal Democracy has been pooled into a common purse where the majority regularly withdraws through their chosen leaders whatever they hope will fulfill their needs, wants, and desires.
“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbour’s.” (Exodus 20:17)
If you want the government to pay for something, then you want your neighbor to pay for that thing or provide that thing. The more you want your neighbor to fulfill your desires, the more it is that you covet your neighbors goods and things. Coveting your neighbors goods is forbidden by God.
Some parents send their children to a private school and pay school taxes anyway. People who don’t want those neighbors to have a tax voucher to help with their child’s tuition because their taxes might go up, they are those who are coveting their neighbors’ goods. If they want the government to pay for their health care or old age pension or disability, then they want their neighbor to pay for it. The same goes for welfare, grants, low interest loans, etc. If they want their neighbor or their neighbor’s son to go to Iraq and Kuwait to bring down or keep down the price of oil so that they will have more money, then they covet their neighbors’ goods and maybe even their life.
“And the LORD said unto Cain, Where [is] Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: [Am] I my brother’s keeper?” (Ge 4:9)
Entering into the democracy is a freewill choice. Look at the benefits and advantages. But is it a good idea? Is it wise? Is it right? Are there disadvantages?
“Reason is the soul of the law,
and when the reason of any particular law ceases, so does the law itself.”
“And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint [them] for himself, for his chariots, and [to be] his horsemen; and [some] shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and [will set them] to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters [to be] confectionaries, and [to be] cooks, and [to be] bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, [even] the best [of them], and give [them] to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put [them] to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.” (1 Samuel 8:11, 20)
“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance… For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally, the Forms of our Governments:”
The Republic was a place of individual responsibility. Each individual took on the burden of protection from everything on an individual basis. Education of our children, the care of the elderly and sick, protection from poverty, and the criminal elements of the world were faced with individual courage and fortitude. Charity was handed out from the hand of the donator to the receiver with a voluntary commitment.
“Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth, their idols were upon the [community] beasts, and upon the [beast] cattle: your carriages [were] heavy loaden; [they are] a burden to the weary. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not [escape] deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne [by me] from the belly, which are carried from the womb: And [even] to [your] old age I [am] he; and [even] to hoar hairs will I carry [you]: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver [you]. To whom will ye liken me, and make [me] equal, and compare me, that we may be like?” (Isaiah 46:1, 5)
The United States Federal Government is a corporate entity or society, which makes it a person. A monarch is, “a single or sole ruler of a state… a person or a thing that suppresses others of the same kind.” Can a democracy take the place of a king and, further, who should be king?
“We must realize that today’s Establishment is the new George III. Whether it will continue to adhere to his tactics, we do not know. If it does, the redress, honored in tradition, is also revolution… the truth is that the vast bureaucracy now runs this country, irrespective of what party is in power.”
“Reform of the Federal Judiciary in 1937 was an attempt to make democracy king in America.”
“Where, Say Some, is the king of America? I’ll tell you, Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the royal brute of Great Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly honours, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth placed on divine law, the Word of God; let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America the law is king. For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the People whose right it is.”
The word “federal” comes from the French word “federal”, which, in turn, comes from the Latin foedus, foederis, a noun meaning, “treaty, league; compact”. To give you an idea of the true meaning of foedus when it is used as an adjective, it means foul, hideous, revolting; vile, disgraceful. :Feudal” also comes from the medieval Latin word foedum. Feudalism was a system where a lord held title to the land and the vassals and serfs lived on it. The vassal owed service and fealty to his lord.
“As long as we look to government to solve our problems we will always suffer tyranny.”
Are there any problems that society has not tried to place on the shoulders of government and, therefore, upon their brother’s shoulders? Have we not, over the years, magnified the place of government and the charisma of the titular leaders of government in our lives?
“…a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidding appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government. History will teach us that the former has been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.”
“Protection draws to it subjection; subjection protection.”
“Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go. As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, Saying to a stock, Thou [art] my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned [their] back unto me, and not [their] face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us. But where [are] thy gods [rulers] that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for [according to] the number of thy cities are thy gods [rulers], O Judah. Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD. In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?” (Jer.2:25,31)
In a democracy, the people are collectively their own master, their own ruler. It does not have to be so, but it is the temptation of man’s vanity that inclines him to disregard the will of his Creator and become the ruler of his brothers.
“His vanity swelled him so vile and rank That he could hear no voices but his own… Then and now Men must lie in their Master’s Holy Hands, moved only as he wills: Our hearts most seek out that will.”
“The old king Bent close to the handle of the ancient relic, And saw written there the story of ancient wars Between good and evil, the opening of the waters, The Flood sweeping giants away, how they suffered And died, that race who hated the Ruler Of us all and received judgment from His hands, Surging waves that found them wherever They fled… A brood forever opposing the Lord’s Will, and again and again defeated.”
“Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay but rather division.” (Luke 12:51)
“And sometimes they sacrificed to the old stone gods, Made heathen vows, hoping for Hell’s Support, the Devil’s guidance in driving Their affliction off. That was their way, And the heathen’s only hope, Hell Always in their hearts, knowing neither God Nor His passing as He walks through our world, the Lord Of Heaven and earth; their ears could not hear His praise nor know His glory. Let them Beware, those who are thrust into danger, Clutched at by trouble yet can carry no solace In their hearts, cannot hope to be better! Hail To those who will rise to God, drop off Their dead bodies and seek our Father’s peace!… Words and bright wit Won’t help your soul; you’ll suffer hell’s fires, Unferth, forever tormented… How often an entire country suffers On one man’s account!”
“Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods [rulers]. But now, after that ye have known God [Ruler], or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?” (Ga 4:8,9)
In the Old Testament, the word ‘elohiym is the Hebrew word that is translated into the English word “God” or “gods”. The Hebrew word actually means ruler, judge. This meaning makes more sense when we remember that there was no ruler over the Israelites but God Himself until the people begged for a king and Samuel anointed Saul.
“And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; [And] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (Col 2:13, 15)
Today we will not even seek the wisdom of the prophets. We, through our handwritten decrees and constitutions, which created our democracies and their authorities, shall choose our own rulers with the same results history and the prophets have foretold.
“Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land,… so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.” (2 Samuel 15:4,6)
Because men now follow less in the ways of the Lord, being filled with vanities and pride, they will follow a poorer choice than Absalom and men will be bound to their choice by words and deeds. Men and women may claim Christ as their king and their lord, but is it so?
“ But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? [They] all say unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but [that] rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed [his] hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye [to it]. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood [be] on us, and on our children.” (Mt. 27:20,25)
It was a vote of the people, preferring the benefits, protection, and vanities of Caesar, that willfully chose to crucify the anointed King.
“… the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” (Mt. 4:8, 10)
The adversary, the devil, the powers that would be, had long since seduced the people into handing their individual dominion over to that demonic and central power.
“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Rev. 18:4)
God calls His people in their hearts to separate from those false gods and rulers who have unequally yoked their brothers under their Babylonian, patrimonial power and authority.
“Thou shalt not bow down to their gods [rulers], nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.” (Ex 23:24)
This was the call of the LORD from Adam to Noah and Abraham to Samuel.
“With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:” (2Ki 17:35)
It was with the LORD we are to make our covenants and perform our oaths.
“Thou shalt not follow a multitude to [do] evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest [judgment]:” (Exodus 23:2)
Is this where man sins? He covets his brothers works. He joins together to obtain power over those who fall prey to their defiance of their Father’s will.
“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.”
One of the most memorable lines from the movie, “The Patriot” was spoken by actor Mel Gibson, who asked, “Why should I trade one tyrant 3,000 miles away, for 3,000 tyrants one mile away?”
Footnotes
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