Life or deathocracy

The Constitutional Republic is not only the highest form of government, it’s the only form of government that truly preserves liberty. There was one single purpose of the Constitutional Convention, and that was to federalize the states under one strong Republican Government. This truth is made evident in Article IV; Section 4 of the US Constitution by declaring “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this UNION A REPUBLICAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT”. The Constitution’s wording is not only proof of Republican intention but is also the supreme law of the land. Not only that, but the Constitution is the overall highest sovereign authority of the United States. It is easy to say that the United States Constitution is a masterpiece, but it’s hard to fully grasp why it is a masterpiece. The Constitution is very simple, yet so deep. It covers everything it needs to, and not a touch more. Since 1789, the original body has not been altered to this day, and it need not be. What the Constitution does not guarantee or make provision for is as miraculous as what it does authorize, but perhaps above all is that it is a self-established government. Self-government is the foundation of true liberty. Given that a true Republic is the only government that protects liberty, then self-government is what protects a Republic. Self-government, often confused with independence, has more than one real implication. The first implication is of one’s own self including his or her own moral compass and standard, political beliefs, and what is held as truth. The second implication of self-government is that of a nation, including its moral standard, political beliefs, and what is held as truth. If both implications are true, then can the 2nd exist without the 1st? During the course of a Republic, is the government not a reflection of the governed? If the answers to those questions are yes, then who can argue that the laws of a nation reflect the moral compass and standard of the people? The Declaration of Independence asserts that government powers are derived from the consent of the governed and that when any government becomes destructive, the governed has the right to alter or replace it. Once the British crown was removed from power over the colonies, the Confederate American government was fully installed in its place. The post-Revolutionary U.S. lumbered on with a loose union from 1883 to 1889 when the Constitution was finally ratified. The time from the Revolution to Federalization was riddled with calamity and destitution, proving that a decentralized overly democratic union wasn’t working and needed to be replaced. Upon becoming the Constitutional Republic in 1889, the best opportunity for a nation to have lasting national prosperity was born. Opportunity, however, is not a guarantee and the Founders knew that. They also knew that the idea that democracy is the ultimate form of government, and that any nation should strive to achieve it would pose a major threat to the now installed Republic. Democracy was seen as something that appeals to human nature and was renounced through constitutional ratification, because the very purpose of the Convention was to install a responsibility-based government; a Republic. What keeping a Republic really means is keeping the Constitution of the United States. Keeping the constitution, by and large, means first understanding, then obeying it. Washington declared in his farewell speech; “Respect for its [The Constitution’s] authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and alter their constitutions of government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, until changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.” Clearly, Washington is saying that having a self-established government [The Constitution] is wholly contingent on obeying the self-established government [The Constitution]. The principle of obedience to government is the bedrock of Republicanism. Democracy, the government of human nature, is the other way around. Human nature thinks the government should obey the people, thereby running on the will of the people, which is governing by opinion. Republicanism runs on Principle and requires a sense of duty from all. Duty is a function of self-government. Self-government is the government of self. Employing education, the experience of England’s tyranny, and the tenuous Confederacy, the Framers were painfully careful to write the Constitution so that it could be obeyed by each and every individual American, therefore, the wording of the Constitution puts its very existence into the hands of each and every individual American. Bluntly put, the level of the sense of duty of each American is the deciding factor in the level of protection of true liberty for the collective citizens of the United States.