Republics & Democracies

by Robert Welch

This reprinted essay was first delivered as a speech at the Constitution Day luncheon of 'We, The People' in Chicago on September 17, 1961. The principles Robert Welch espoused in that speech are timeless. The American Republic will endure only so long as the principles of a sovereign government are sufficiently understood by each succeeding generation of Americans.

51 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 31, 2017

About the author

American anti-communist and cofounder of the John Birch society.

Reviews

[Benedict Pan-Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author has some interesting views, insisting that the US is, and should always be a republic, not a democracy. He argues that an absolute democracy is in essence a mobocracy whereas the republic checks it, rather than promotes it. The author also worries that democracy has increasingly become a more and more favorable term to the masses, eroding the fundamentals of the republic system. Two noticeable changes are: 1) the federal government has become more powerful and 2) the senators are now elected.

Although I personally applaud some of his ideologies, and also agree that the US has become a "democratic republic", I still firmly believe these changes brought more positive changes. The system still effectively provides checks and balances to place safeguards from an absolute democracy, a "mob rule". The constitution, in my opinions, still wins.

[Fred Fanning · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book I've read on the difference between a democracy and a republic.