For as long as I can remember, the left has been sneering at anyone who points out that the United States is a republic, not a democracy.
To explain the problem, CNN even recruited "Democracy" expert Anne Applebaum, who noted that, "America is a democracy. It was founded as a democracy the word 'democracy' and the word 'republic' have often been used interchangeably. There isn't a meaningful difference between them" Sure there is.
Ask the contemporary leftists who target virtually every protection we have against mob rule in the name of "Democracy" - attacking the Supreme Court, the Electoral College, federalism, the filibuster, the Senate, and even the existence of states.
The "Save democracy" types who refer to these long-standing federalist institutions as "Minority rule" do not view "Democracy" and a constitutional republic as interchangeable concepts.
Democrats who want to "Expand" the Supreme Court for failing to follow democratic trends, don't care about the "Republic." After all, many of the high court's most historic decisions, including Dred Scott and Plessy, cut the legs out from under "Democracy." Or take the so-called moderate Democrats who want to get rid of the filibuster or use the slimmest of fleeting majorities to shove through massive, generational federal "Reforms" without any national consensus - Obamacare or The Deficit Reduction Act [sic].
"There is, of course, a legitimate debate to be had on what form of democracy we have here in the United States - direct democracy, representative democracy constitutional republic, which you heard people mentioned in that piece, that is a form of democracy," the CNN host explained.
"[F]or centuries," insists O'Sullivan, "America has celebrated its democracy," before playing clips of Ronald Reagan and others praising the notion of "Democracy." Indeed, the word "Democracy" - from "Demos," the people - has been used as a shorthand for self-rule since before Pericles.
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