Lesson 2: We are a republic

Ugly as I believe it is to misguide people, I believe the reason behind it can be even more egregious. This person gives himself away when he writes, “The fact that we call ourselves the Democratic Party isn’t just a coincidence.” I agree. It is not at all a coincidence that, because the Democrats call themselves the Democratic Party, they want people to believe we reside in a democracy. To their credit, Republicans do not employ the same clever game.

Mostly, throughout our 235 year history as a nation, Americans on the whole properly referred to our country as a republic. Perhaps the first veering off course was steered by a Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville. In 1831, he travelled to the United States and by aid of his copious journaling, authored a lengthy series of observations titled, “Democracy in America.” Despite the popularity of the two volumes, which were published in 1835, however, Americans continued to correctly identify our country as a republic. Consider, for example, the “Pledge of Allegiance.” Originally authored in 1839 and slightly revised by Congress in 1923 and 1954, the word used to refer to our country remained “republic.”

Purposefully words are chosen, particularly by those who write from a position of power or influence, whether for good or for manipulation. Consider how many times president Abraham Lincoln wrote out the “Gettysburg Address.” A number of drafts in his hand have survived, none of which are the exact words he spoke, revealing how he labored over the document several times. He did so because he was concerned with the words he chose to convey his meaning. The words he iterated were important to him — for those who listened on the day he gave the address — and for journalists who would record his speech, word for word, for readers and for posterity.

When the War Department published their “Training Manual No. 2000-25” in 1928, they accurately defined democracy as a “mobocracy” and a form of government that “results in demagogism, license, agitation, discontent, anarchy.” The manual was written for citizenship training of army recruits so they would properly understand what they might be called to fight for or against.

Oddly enough, the president who began to popularize the term “democracy” was Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat. It was he who appealed to the country in 1916 to enter the conflict of Word War 1 “to make the world safe for democracy.” Franklin D. Roosevelt, also a Democrat, made a similar appeal to the nation in 1940 during World War 2. He declared we “must be the great arsenal of democracy.” Additionally, during FDR’s administration, the War Department’s “Training Manual No. 2000-25” was denigrated in a speech by Sen. Homer Truett Bone, a Democrat from the state of Washington. Not long after, FDR’s government ordered the army to cease publication of the manual altogether.

Now let’s turn to the simple way the letter writer defended his position: with a dictionary definition. I, too, have a dictionary. It’s a 1913 edition of Webster’s. For the definition of “republic,” it reads: “A state in which the sovereign power resides in the whole body of the people, and is exercised by representatives elected by them: a commonwealth.” What more needs to be written in defense of the truth? One would hope nothing but knowing the nature of this business, the lesson will need to be repeated again and again.

A former member of the San Carlos City Council and mayor, Matt Grocott has been involved in political policy on the Peninsula for 17 years. He can be reached by email at mattgrocott@comcast.net.