What is a Democracy and should Christians be advancing it? by Jack Kettler
Democracy is a system of government in which all eligible citizens participate equally, either directly or indirectly. Democracy comes from the Greek language and means “rule by the people.”
The thoughtful Christian reader will ask, where is God in this form of government that by it’s definition means rule by the people? Most Christians would agree with the Psalmist and say: “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.” (Psalms 119:97) The Christian wants to ruled by God, not man!
Are there an alternatives to a democracy?
Yes, living under a monarchy with a good and wise Christian king would be better. Living under a republic with a fixed constitutional body of law dependent upon biblical law would be far superior. Living under strong local independent city states would be preferable. Living in a nation with a national covenant acknowledging the King of the Universe and His law that is recorded in the revelation of the Old and New Covenants would be the best.
There is a basic problem this side of heaven. It is man’s fall into sin and the resulting consequences. When mankind fell into sin, men now try to be their own gods. Since the fall, there are two basic choices, just like there are two races of men, redeemed and unrepentant sinners. This side of heaven, there will never be a perfect government and all that those who fight the tyranny of an overreaching tyrannical state have never found a way to perfectly reign in and stop government abuse. This does not mean we should not try.
What are the two basic ethical choices of mankind?
Reformed theologian and apologist, Cornelius Van Til says: “There is no alternative but that of theonomy and autonomy.”
Theonomy comes from the Greek theos (god) and nomos (law.) Theonomy or God’s law being the standard, is the antithesis to autonomy, which is the idea that humanism or man-made law is the standard.
In the Garden of Eden God offered theonomy, or His law as the standard to determine right and wrong.
In opposition, Satan offered Adam and Eve autonomy, or humanistic self-law as seen in Genesis 3:5 “ye shall be as gods, determining right and wrong for yourselves.”
Those who love God, use His law as the defining standard between right and wrong. On the other hand, those who hate God and His law, choose man-made self-law or autonomy i.e., “rule by the people.”
In his relevant article, reformed theologian R.J. Rushdoony notes:
In his important study, The Heresy of Democracy (1955), Lord Percy of Newcastle declared of democracy that it is “philosophy which is nothing less than a new religion” (p. 16).1
Truth is determined by God, not man or a group of men. Majorities do not make right. Majorities and be very wrong as in the case of Nazi Germany and the murder of the Jewish minority. Ultimately, all democracies degenerate into tyrannies.
Some plainspoken truth about Democracy:
“Democracy is the road to socialism.” – Karl Marx
“We believe socialism and democracy are one and indivisible.” – Socialist Party U.S.A.
“Democracy has nothing to do with freedom. Democracy is a soft variant of communism, and rarely in the history of ideas has it been taken for anything else.” – Hans-Herman Hoppe
Some thoughts from the Founding Fathers on Democracy:
“Hence it is that democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general have been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths… A republic, by which I mean a government in which a scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking.” James Madison, Federalist Papers No. 10 (1787).
“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!” Ben Franklin
“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.” Thomas Jefferson
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” John Adams
“Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos.” – Chief Justice John Marshall
“Pure democracy cannot subsist long nor be carried far into the departments of state – it is very subject to caprice and the madness of popular rage.” – John Witherspoon
A collection and survey of important insights on Democracy:
“Democracy… is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder; and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.” – Plato
“In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme.” – Aristotle
“The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don’t have to waste your time voting.” – Charles Bukowski
“The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.” – John F. Kennedy
“Democracy is the menopause of Western society, the Grand Climacteric of the body social.” – Jean Baudrillard
“Democracy is also a form of religion. It is the worship of jackals by jackasses.” – H. L. Mencken
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” – H.L. Mencken
“Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.” – H.L Mencken
“Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they’ve told you what you think it is you want to hear.” – Alan Corenk
“The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.” – Winston Churchill
“In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority” – Edmund Burke
“Democratism and its allied herd movements, while remaining loyal to the principle of equality and identity, will never hesitate to sacrifice liberty.” – Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
“Despite popular rhetoric, democracy is not synonymous with freedom. Taking something without permission is theft, but not when the majority goes along with it and calls it taxation. Matters that should be of no interest to any other person (e.g., what a person chooses to do with his or her body) become matters of public policy when the majority says so. The recipe is fairly straightforward. All you have to do is appoint someone else to initiate force on your behalf, get enough people to pick the
same candidate, and then hide behind the waving banner of free and open elections. The syllogism goes something like: The initiation of force is wrong, so I cannot initiate force without punishment. Democratic elections are good. I help to elect someone to public office, then he or she initiates force on my behalf.” – Brian Drake
Most people are dastardly and would not rob their neighbor with a weapon, instead as Mr. Drake has just pointed out, the people use the government to steal for them.
“Parliamentary government is simply a mild and disguised form of compulsion. We agree to try strength by counting heads instead of breaking heads, but the principle is exactly the same… The minority gives way not because it is convinced that it is wrong, but because it is convinced that it is a minority.” – James Fitzjames Stephen
“I do not believe in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.” – Thomas Carlyle
“The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.” – “It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority. For there is a reserve of latent power in the masses which, if it is called into play, the minority can seldom resist.” – Lord Acton
“It is a logical absurdity to equate democracy with freedom in the way that mainstream political philosophers and commentators typically do. A system where individuals and minorities are at the mercy of unconstrained majorities hardly constitutes freedom in any meaningful sense.” – Keith Preston
“The concept of the Will of the People is dangerously arbitrary. Certainly not worthy of being the foundation of a rational and practical political system.” – Stephen Townshend
“Gang rape is democracy in action.” ~MRDA~
“Democracy is the will of the people. Every morning I am surprised to read in the newspaper what I want.” – Wim Kan, Dutch comedian
Thoughts on the inevitable results of Democracy in the civil realm:
“Every election is sort of an advance auction sale of stolen goods.”- H.L. Mencken
“Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.” – Frederic Bastiat
“Those who are asking for more government interference are asking ultimately for more compulsion and less freedom.” – Ludwig von Mises, Austrian economist and great free market defender
Many people agree with the following sentiments on the inability to keep government growth in check:
“The only good bureaucrat is one with a pistol at his head. Put it in his hand and it’s good-bye to the Bill of Rights.” – H.L. Mencken
Speaking about the hand in the neighbor’s pocket:
“Where shall we get to and how are we to maintain progress if we increasingly adopt a way of life in which no one wants any longer to assume responsibility for himself and everyone seeks security in collectivism?” Ludwig Erhard, former German Chancellor
See Ludwig Erhard’s The German Miracle vs. the Welfare State.
“Democracy is majority rule at the expense of the minority. Our system has certain democratic elements, but the founders never mentioned democracy in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or the Declaration of Independence. In fact, our most important protections are decidedly undemocratic. For example, the First Amendment protects free speech. It doesn’t – or shouldn’t – matter if that speech is abhorrent to 51% or even 99% of the people. Speech is not subject to majority approval. Under our republican form of government, the individual, the smallest of minorities, is protected from the mob” – Ron Paul
“Democracy? I want nothing to do with a system which operates on the premise that my rights don’t exist simply because I am outnumbered.” – R. Lee Wrights
“The problem with [democracy] socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” – Margaret Thatcher
What kind of government did America have in the beginning? It was not democracy!
From the article what our fore fathers thought:
Just after the completion and signing of the Constitution, in reply to a woman’s inquiry as to the type of government the Founders had created, Benjamin Franklin said, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
A Republic is representative government ruled by law (the United States Constitution). A Democracy is government ruled by the majority (mob rule). A Republic recognizes the unalienable rights of individuals while Democracies are only concerned with group wants or needs for the good of the public, or in other words social justice.
Lawmaking is a slow, deliberate process in our Constitutional Republic requiring approval from the three branches of government, the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches for checks and balance. Lawmaking in Democracy occurs rapidly requiring approval from the majority by polls and/or voter referendums, which in turn is mob rule 50% plus 1 vote takes away anything from the minority. Here is one example; if 51% of the people don’t pay taxes they can vote a tax increase on the 49% that do, which is mob rule.
Democracies always self-destruct when the non-productive majority realizes that it can vote itself handouts from the productive minority by electing the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury. To maintain their power, these candidates must adopt an ever-increasing tax and spend policy to satisfy the ever-increasing desires of the majority. As taxes increase, incentive to produce decreases, causing many of the once productive to drop out and join the non-productive. When there are no longer enough producers to fund the legitimate functions of government and the socialist programs, the democracy will collapse, always to be followed by a Dictatorship.
Even though nearly every politician, teacher, journalist and citizen believes that our Founders created a democracy, it is absolutely not true. The Founders knew full well the differences between a Republic and a Democracy and they repeatedly said that they had founded a republic in numerous quotes, and documents.
Article IV Section 4, of the Constitution “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion”, the word Democracy is not mentioned in the Constitution at all. Madison warned us of the dangers of democracies with this quote, along with more warnings from others.
See more at: http://www.whatourforefathersthought.com/index.html
Democracy and immigration policy:
Democracy forces you to be in conformity with the demands of the “will of the people,” regardless of what economic realism, common sense, or what biblical law says. Democracy obligates you to relinquish your freedom and your assets including property for the so-called “general welfare” Article 1, Section 8, today a grossly misinterpreted term. Democracy in the end, destroys freedom and property.
At first, some democracies are very particular on who is allowed into the country. There are strictly enforced immigration laws only allowing in people who have something to contribute along with secure boarders. As H.L. Mencken noted; “every election is sort of an advance auction sale of stolen goods.”
In the late stages before a democracy collapses, the politicians who promise people free things to get elected, find that many people are starting to recognize the voting scam for what it is. In order to keep the scam of democracy going, the politicians need more stupid people who cannot not recognize the political lies. In the case of the U.S. the corrupt vote buying political prostitutes (most politicians) create an open boarder disaster and start flooding the country with millions of stupid people who fall victim to specious promises of the vote buying prostitutes. The new wave of immigrant law breakers are coming for government handouts, taken from people who producers and given to non-producing bums and parasites.
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.” – Sir Alexander Fraser Tyler, Scottish historian
Consider two quotes by economic professor Hans-Herman Hoppe author of the powerful book; Democracy – The God that Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy, and Natural Order.
“What is true, just, and beautiful is not determined by popular vote. The masses everywhere are ignorant, short-sighted, motivated by envy, and easy to fool. Democratic politicians must appeal to these masses in order to be elected. Whoever is the best demagogue will win. Almost by necessity, then, democracy will lead to the perversion of truth, justice and beauty.” – Hanse-Hermann Hoppe
“Thus, if one is indeed concerned about America’s moral decay and wants to restore normalcy to society and culture, one must oppose all aspects of the modern social-welfare state. A return to normalcy requires no less than the complete elimination of the present social security system: of unemployment insurance, social security, medicare, medicaid, public education, etc.- and thus the near complete dissolution and deconstruction of the current state apparatus and government power. If one is ever to restore normalcy, government funds and power must dwindle to or even fall below their nineteenth century levels. Hence, true conservatives must be hard-line libertarians (antistatists).” – Hanse-Hermann Hoppe
Dr. Hoppe is Professor Emeritus with the College of Business at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, the publisher of much of his work, and was editor of various Mises Institute periodicals.
“You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe.” – John Adams
It is significant that Adams grounds these rights in the biblical God and not from government!
If a political leader is promoting democracy there are two main possibilities:
1. The politician is an ignoramus.
2. The politician is a deceiver and really intent on spreading democracy leading to socialism.
One example is, Woodrow Wilson, who was the 28th President of the United States. He said our nation’s mission is “to make the world safe for democracy.” Since then, it has been fashionable to promote this political delusion by the majority of politicians in America.
Christian Democide,* Democracy and American Foreign policy: The Bush/Soetoro Middle East Disaster
* Democide is a term defined by the political scientist R. J. Rummel as “the murder of any person or people by their government, including genocide, politicide and mass murder.” According to Rummel, democide passed war as the leading cause of non-natural death in the 20th century. Moving into the 21st Century, it show no signs of stopping.
As a Christian, I’m becoming increasingly concerned about the destruction of Christian communities around the world and the murder of tens of thousands of Christians, particularly in the Middle East. Victor Atallah is an Egyptian born Orthodox Presbyterian missionary to the Middle East, based in Cyprus. Mr. Atallah told me personally that he had visited Iraq and Baghdad prior to Saddam Hussein’s overthrow by the Bush regime and how there were two large Reformed churches in Baghdad. It is uncertain of these churches existence today. At the time Mr. Ahallah radio broadcast from Cyprus was heard in Iraq and bearing fruit. Mr. Atallah works with MEFF the Middle East Reformed Fellowship. This ministry is worthy of your support.
Saddam Hussein, as bad as he was, kept the warring Muslim factions in check and protected the Christian community, which dated back to biblical times. Iraq under Saddam Hussein did not have democracy, nor were weapons of mass destruction found, yet there was freedom for Christians, some even served in high government position such as the one time Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz.
A little about the Bush mission in Iraq and democracy. The promotion of democracy as essential to nation building was fundamental to the George W. Bush’s war on terrorism and his general strategy for advancement for freedom around the world.
George W. Bush opened his second term with a promise to the people of the United States and the world – vowing to “promote democracy both at home and abroad.”
While speaking to the National Endowment for Democracy, President Bush called for “democracy in the Middle East.”
The biblical doctrine of a just war should be a standard Christians should require be met before supporting a nation’s war effort, not spreading of democracy. The Bush Iraq war did not even come close to meeting this standard.
A main component of “The Bush Doctrine” on foreign policy was supporting and promoting democracy around the world, especially in the Middle East. This idea of spreading democracy was a key principle behind Bush’s invasion of Iraq. Bush thought that the Iraqis were no different from us, they wanted democracy. As will be seen, this has been an unmitigated disaster for Christians in Iraq.
Excerpts from the article: Blame Iraq on George W. Bush and the GOP
“However, Bush and his neocons in their witless crusade for democracy smashed holes in all those state structures. Their relentless insistence on general elections across the region as soon as possible fatally undermined the government of President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and brought Hamas to power in Gaza.
After Bush left office, the crazed and incessant calls for instant democracy across the Middle East did not cease. President Obama, to his credit, finally resisted immense pressure to send U.S. armed forces to aid the rebels against President Bashir Assad in Syria. That civil war has over the past four years killed at least 100,000 people and the opposition forces, which New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and many others championed for so long, is now dominated by ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
In Egypt, Gaza, Iraq, Libya and Syria, the story has been exactly the same. The U.S. drive to promote democracy so eagerly embraced by George W. Bush and his second secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, fatefully undermined existing regimes and opened the way to full scale civil wars and uprisings in which the small, weak and naïve middle class secular genuine democrats were quickly swept aside by formidable extreme Islamists. No wonder that experienced and responsible rulers in the region such as old King Abdullah ibn Abdelaziz of Saudi Arabia despaired of U.S. policymakers.
American policymakers and the arrogant, ignorant, self-righteous media pundits who fed them their “ideas” created the Rube Goldberg joke that is the current government and constitution of “democratic” Iraq. And the army they created has proven as loyal, reliable and strong as the puppet armies that the British Empire tried to create in Iraq before them.
I documented this whole, sorry story and predicted the rapid collapse of the Iraqi “democracy” after U.S. forces pulled out in my 2008 book The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Middle East.
Only the reliable but increasingly exhausted forces of the U.S. armed forces prevented this collapse until now. And it was George W. Bush, not even Obama, who made the fateful concession to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki before Bush left office that U.S. forces would soon pull out according to a set timetable. Yet U.S. power was all that ever held up the whole sorry “house of cards” in Iraq. So now it all is coming tumbling down.
The absurdity and futility of the Bush-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz “democracy-building” dream in Iraq is now exposed for all to see. Instead, the Islamist jihadi tidal wave is sweeping all in sight.” – Martin Sieff (underlining emphasis mine)
Martin Sieff is the author of several award winning books including: “The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Middle East” (Regnery, 2008). He has received three Pulitzer Prize nominations for international reporting.
What happens to Christians around the world when current U.S. Policy promoting Democracy moves in?
Iraq
In Iraq, Christians numbered about 1,500,000 to 2 million in 2003, representing just over 5% of the population of the country. This is before the Bush/Soetoro disaster. Now there are fewer and 500,000. This was the estimate before the Sunni Jihadists started rampaging through the country to establish the caliphate and a nation base for their savage blood thirsty plans to conquer the whole world.
Syria
The total number of Christians, in Syria not including Iraqi refugee Christians, numbers about 1.7 million or about 12% of the population. In Syria, both Christians and Muslims serve in the military under president Assad. Right now, the Syrians under president Assad are fighting for their lives against the Jihadist backed U.S. Christ hating rebels.
Libya
Christians number around 100,000 in Libya. Thanks to U.S. Policy under Barry Soetoro and John McBama the entire community may have been exterminated. As of now, the country is destroyed and almost all Western diplomats have left the country. We should not forget the four Americans killed in Libya, Ambassador Chris Stevens, information officer Sean Smith, and former navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
Egypt
In Egypt, there are about 10 million Christians. Thankfully, the U.S. Soetoro backed Jihadist Muslim Brotherhood government was overthrown by the Egyptian military.
It is high time for Christians to wake up and stop supporting politicians who promise to promote democracy, which in the case of the Middle East is leading to the extermination of Christianity throughout the whole region!
Why are almost all modern American politicians promoting a godless form of government called democracy? Democracy is the road to Socialism and responsible for ten of thousands of Christians in the Middle East being murdered and displaced.
Another good book:
Beyond Democracy: Why democracy does not lead to solidarity, prosperity and liberty but to social conflict, runaway spending and a tyrannical government
by Frank Karsten and Karel Beckman
“Just finished reading the thing. Fantastic. Great work. Congratulations.” Hans-Hermann Hoppe, author of ‘Democracy: The God That Failed’ “This book has massive explanatory power. It can liberate your mind.” Jeffrey Tucker, executive editor of Laissez Faire Books Democracy is widely considered to be the best political system imaginable. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that democracy has become a secular religion. The largest political faith on earth. To criticize the democratic ideal is to risk being regarded an enemy of civilized society. Yet that is precisely what Karel Beckman and Frank Karsten propose to do. In this provocative and highly readable book, they tackle the last political taboo: the idea that our salvation lies in democracy. With simple, straightforward arguments they show that democracy, in contrast to popular belief, does not lead to freedom, civilization, prosperity, peace, and the rule of law, but the opposite: to loss of freedom, social conflict, runaway government spending, a lower standard of living and the subversion of individual rights. They debunk 13 great myths with which democracy is usually defended. What is more, they offer an appealing alternative: a society based on individual freedom and voluntary social relations. Do you wonder why government keeps growing bigger and the public debt keeps getting higher, while your freedom and prosperity look ever more threatened? After reading his book, you won’t wonder anymore – you know why it is happening and what can be done about it. Beyond Democracy is a groundbreaking and fascinating book for everyone who wants to better understand current social problems and the economic crisis. More info at: http://beyonddemocracy.net/
I strongly recommend Dr. Hoppe’s book; Democracy – the God that Failed and the above title.
In conclusion some thoughts from R.J. Rushdoony:
“The heresy of democracy has since then worked havoc in church and state.” R.J. Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law, Vol. 1. p. 100.
“Because the modern state, in all its variations, is based on Rousseau’s concept of the infallible general will, it is moving steadily towards totalitarianism, seeking total power over man.” Continuing he says; “We are therefore in a state of war, war between heaven and humanism, war between the Almighty God and the totalitarian state, war between the scientific planners, predictors, and controllers, war between God and all those who deny His infallibility.” R.J. Rushdoony Systematic Theology, Vol. 1 p. 6-7.
Direct hyper links to books and authors can be found at this site: http://www.undergroundnotes.com/Democracy.html
Note:
1. THE HERESY OF DEMOCRACY WITH GOD by Rousas John Rushdoony [From Chalcedon Position Paper No.6]
Mr. Kettler is the owner of http://www.Undergroundnotes.com where his theological, philosophical and political articles can be read.
The Religion That Started in a Hat 