The Dan Smoot Report, 1966: “A Constitutional Republic, Not a Democracy”
“The ideal of a constitutional republic is individual liberty. In this century, great strides have been made toward the goal of subverting our republic, and transforming it into a democracy. The foremost tactic of the subverters is subversion of “language” — by calling America a democracy, until people thoughtlessly accept the term, and use the term. Totalitarians have obscured the real meanings and principles of American government.”
— Dan Smoot
To further understand what Dan Smoot means, read Benjamin Rush and Early Federalist Republicanism: Fear of Democracy, Moral Degradation, and Corruption on the early American fear of mob democracy and the Roman republic’s fate of corruption.
Pennsylvanian statesmen Benjamin Rush explained, that Power is not seated in the people, as it is imagined today. All power is [derived from] the people. They possess that power on the day of elections, when we elect our rulers (representatives), whose power exists so long as they do not abuse it. Rush adds, that anything other would lead the republic through two doors of tyranny: the mob (demos), or a Caesar.
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