Republicans Believe in the Tyranny of the Minority.
Democracy isn’t the objective; liberty, peace, and prospefity are. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that.
This is a tweet from a United States Senator, Mike Lee of Utah. It speaks to an attitude, in the Republican Party. This is not just President Donald Trump, and it should scare you. It is part of the civic religion that is very strong with the radical right that is also infecting the Courts. This is that the country is a republic, not a democracy. This is a game of words essentially because Rome’s Constitution drew heavily from the Athenian tradition. During its republican phase, Rome was a democracy, just like Athens. They just used a different word since they spoke Latin, not Greek.
Let’s be clear about Rome. The Founding Fathers were very familiar with both Athens and Rome, as well as their history. They believed both provided a solid model for the nascent government they were creating, as long as there were some protections for the minority. Because they believed these would protect them from the tyranny of the majority.