Has the republic failed the People, or have the People failed the republic? Part I

In an account by James McHenry, a Founding Father, and signer of the United States Constitution, that was written on September 17, 1787, about an encounter between Benjamin Franklin and an anxious lady named Mrs. Powel, who accosted him outside Independence Hall, asked “What type of government have you delegates given us?” Franklin replied, “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.”

The arguments over the ratification of the Constitution between the Federalists and Anti-Federalist have been shrouded in anonymity, due mostly to the passage of time and the avarice of politicians and their associated political party. What is more, and certainly unfortunate, since the 1960s, society has placed other priorities ahead of the need to ‘keep the republic’, and instead have dreamed of utopian ideals.

The consequences that came with the attraction to utopian ideals sought during the 20th and 21st centuries, has led to an increase in control and restrictions placed upon society by a stronger, more centralized, and out of reach Federal government. With utopian ideals comes equality in the form of restraints and servitude, whereas in a republican form of government, equality is delivered in the form of liberty. Moreover, because each individual is born with different qualities, they cannot by nature be equal, and since they cannot be equal, a society based on equity, cannot exist. Therefore, utopian ideals are a fallacy.The origins of the American form of republican democracy derive from the valued life experienced during the early days of the republic, when dedication to liberty, law, and custom, held by the merits of virtue, was embodied by the People. Hence, only when the People are committed to virtue and liberty, can the republic be kept.