By Steve Odom
Special to The Graham Star
I need to respectively take issue with a recent opinion piece, which questions whether democracy will survive in Graham County.
The fact of the matter is our national government is not a democracy: it’s a constitutional republic. Likewise, state and local governments have representational systems based on constitutions or charters of rights, much like our republic.
I’ve heard people make the comment that we live in the greatest democracy in the world. Well, no we don’t.
We live in a constitutional republic, in which we elect our representatives who make decisions on our behalf, based on the law. In drafting the constitution, our founders created a government of laws and not of men. A republic and not a democracy.
In a republic, a constitution or charter of rights protects certain inalienable rights that cannot be taken away by the government, even if it has been elected by a majority of voters. In a pure democracy, the majority is not restrained in this way and can impose its will on the minority.
That is why we have an Electoral College, which leftists hate. If we lived in a true democracy, the majority would elect the President, which is what the socialist left would really like to see. In a true democracy, the major cities along the east and west coast – the major populated metropolitan areas – would elect the President. Those of us in middle America, rural America and the fly over states of the mid-west (the minority) would just be left out of the process.
The Electoral College provides every state with an allotted number of electors based on the number of elected members of Congress. This gives every American Voter a voice in choosing our elected leaders.
Just as we depend on representatives in the U.S. Congress and State General Assembly to make decisions on our behalf, the same applies to county commissions and city councils. As elected leaders, they should always gauge the public’s opinion on specific views while making every effort to do the right thing.
I wish I could tell you that politics would not play a role in any decision, but we are talking about politically-elected leaders. I would hope at the end of the day that they do what’s best for their citizens.
I’m glad our founding fathers gave us a constitutional republic and not a democracy. That’s what separates us from the rest of the world.
Steve Odom is the chairman of the Graham County Republican Party.