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Republic? What republic?
by Paul Bonneau
2.paulbx1@dfgh.net

Attribute to The Libertarian Enterprise

Sean Gangol wrote against the notion of a direct democracy, saying that "we are actually living in a republic."

I have heard this argument before, but find as the years go on, that it makes less and less sense to me.

So a direct democracy, the people of the city of San Francisco, voted to ban guns. So what? Are legislative bodies any less capable of insanity? How many billions in taxpayer dollars got sent to Wall Street not long ago, even though in a direct democracy they clearly wouldn't have?

This idea of a "representative republic" stands on the assumption that the people supposedly representing us, have more sense than the average Joe, and better morals. But what happens when the reverse is the case, as it so clearly seems to be? What happens when members of legislative bodies are actually, on average, our mental and moral inferiors? What happens when many if not most of them are actually psychopaths, without any conscience at all? Is being a representative republic such a great deal then?

To me, the phrase "representative republic" is just a euphemism for "oligarchy". Just another propaganda term thrown out there by the ruling class to pull the wool over our eyes. There is no sense in which the two senators and one representative of the State of Wyoming represent me. When someone represents me, that person does my bidding. The times I have bothered writing these so-called representatives, boiled down to my begging them not to do the opposite of what I want (I've mostly given up on the practice, as it is a waste of time). How can they represent me, when they don't even know what I want—assuming they cared (which they don't)? How can they represent me, when my neighbor whom they also represent, wants the opposite of what I want?

This is a very collectivist notion. They even have a propaganda term for it, "the will of the people". There is no such will, there is only many individual wills. Anyone who claims to know the will of the people, much less represent it, is a liar.

I'm not a collectivist. I prefer plain speech, not euphemisms. The "will of the people" is nothing but a will-o'-the-wisp! We don't have a representative republic; we have an oligarchy based on violence. And even if we did have such a thing as a representative republic, it would be no better than a direct democracy. People in Congress don't represent us; they represent themselves, and their cronies.

That's a civics lesson you will never hear in a government school.

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