Quite frequently, I will hear people either directly stating or subtly implying that the United States is a democracy. I had heard this expression so often in my teenage years that I began to accept this phrase at face value without even questioning its validity; I mean, I wouldn’t want to disrupt a person’s statement by checking if the words they utter are true, would I?
Of course, I always intend to be polite, and I would never recommend a correction to their statement in a condescending manner. It would also be quite rude to open a dictionary or encyclopedia after each sentence they speak.
It is impolite to treat someone with unwarranted criticism, but it is also generally unwise to blindly trust a source of information without any skepticism, especially if the source has little to no basis for their statements. If a person of unknown trustworthiness makes a claim that does not seem right to you, sometimes the best course of action is to not engage in a debate, and instead research the subject in dispute after being dismissed from the conversation; if that person’s claims are true, the worst that a fair, honest, and accurate database can do is prove them right. If you do research the disputed subject, or any subject at all, remember that it is advisable to check at least a few different sources to hopefully even out biases and inaccuracies.
With this in mind, I have done my research and discovered an interesting fact: the United States is a republic. More accurately, the United States is a constitutional federal republic; constitutional meaning that our government is based on the US Constitution — which is our supreme law, federal meaning that we have a national government besides a state government for each of the 50 states, and republic indicating how our government is structured — a republic is a type of nation in which supreme power is held by the People and their elected representatives, and which has an elected president instead of a monarch. Don’t believe me? Here is the government website of the United States embassy in Argentina, which also states this fact. Feel free to do your own research on this topic; I won’t be offended, in fact, I encourage you to research before solidifying your opinion on any topic.
I have three other sources which also indicate the form of government by which the United States is defined:
- The Pledge of Allegiance, which says: I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.
- The Civil War song called the Battle Hymn of the Republic, whose very title specifies the form of government that the United States uses.
- Article IV, Section 4, of the United States Constitution, which states: the United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic Violence.
I used to think we had to be a democracy because democracies are the only form of government that elects its representatives, at least this was the impression that I was given. I now realize that a republic is also a form of government which elects its representatives.
Please take this as a sincere and friendly reminder that the United States is not actually a democracy and to research anything that you might question; even 2 minutes of research on your smartphone is better than no research.
Are there any other common misconceptions that I should cover?
Onward American 🇺🇸
Source: The Pledge of Allegiance
Onward American 