Democracy or Republic

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Ron Paul, Congressional Representative from Texas, has put forward the 
following to remind everyone that this is a REPUBLIC, NOT A DEMOCRACY, and to 
re-affirm our Constitutional Presidential electoral process. 


                                          106th CONGRESS


                                            2d Session


                                          H. CON. RES. 443


                                   IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES


              Mr. PAUL (for himself, Mr. STUMP, Mr. METCALF, and Mr.

SANFORD) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary December 4, 2000


                                      CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


               Expressing the sense of the Congress in reaffirming the

United States of America as a republic.


             Whereas the form of government secured by the Declaration

of Independence, the American Revolution, and the Constitution of the

United States of America is a republic - not a democracy;


             Whereas the Nation's founders understood that pure

"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."  (Federalist No. 10);


             Whereas throughout the 224-year history of the United

States as an independent and sovereign nation, the people of the United

States have never exercised power as a democracy;


             Whereas the people of the United States have always acted

by and through the Federal Union of the several States, electing Members

of Congress from each of the several States, and the President and Vice

President by electoral votes proportioned to the number of Members of

Congress representing each State;


             Whereas in the 2000 election for choosing electors for

President and Vice President, it appears that the President-elect and

Vice President-elect have won a majority of the state electoral vote,

but not a plurality of the nationwide popular vote;


             Whereas the prospect of electing to office a President and

Vice President who did not win the largest number of popular votes has

generated proposals calling for a constitutional amendment to provide

for the direct popular election of the President and Vice President.


             Whereas such a national popular election for President and

Vice President disregards the constitutional integrity and inviolability

of the 50 states as independent and sovereign governments;


             Whereas in their foresight and wisdom, the people of the

United States, meeting by representation in State conventions, adopted a

national Constitution preserving the independence and equal standing of

the 50 states;


             Whereas the Federal system of equal and independent states

is an essential safeguard against shifting wills of the majority

overriding the unchanging rights of the minority;


             Whereas to preserve the rights of the minority from a

tyranny of the majority, the Constitution of the United States struck a

principled balance between the people of the most populous States and

the people of the least populous States.


             Whereas to that end, the Constitution of the United States

provides that the legislatures of each of the several States, without

interference from Congress or any other branch of the Federal Government

or state governments, determine the manner of election of the President

and the Vice President by State electors from each State;


             Whereas the number of electors is distributed in accordance

with each State's representation in the House of Representatives and in

accordance with each State's equal standing in the Senate, not by a

direct nationwide election in accordance with population alone;


             Whereas the constitutionally prescribed system in the 2000

election for choosing electors for President and Vice President

continues to function as originally designed, protecting minority and

States' rights from the exercise of majority power; and


             Whereas the electoral college system thereby preserves the

diversity of the American people and maintains the United States as a

Federal republic - not as a democracy.  Now, therefore, be it


             Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that the United States is

not a democracy  - but a republic - and that the present

constitutionally prescribed means by which the President and Vice

President are selected State by State is essential to preserving the

diversity of the citizenry of the United States and to maintaining the

United States as a Federal republic composed of independent and

sovereign States.


Dani Hansen

ideagle@if.rmci.net

Idaho Citizens Eagle Forum