TOS Blog: Daily Commentary from an Objectivist Perspective

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Gary Johnson on Democracy vs. Republic

Posted by TOS Admin at 3:19 pm ET

Here’s a Q&A from Gary Johnson that was not included in his exclusive interview with TOS. The lengthy interview is available to subscribers here. Subscriptions to TOS start at $29 (8¢ a day) and are available in HTML, e-book, Kindle, print, and audio (mp3), so you can enjoy the articles as you see fit. Subscribe today and keep your mind at peak performance.

David Baucom: Many people today would be surprised to hear that the Founding Fathers spoke negatively of democracy, seeing it as tyranny by the majority. The Founders held that, while a democratic process is necessary to elect leaders, it’s not to trump individual rights and liberty—which are protected against the majority by the Constitution. Do you share that perspective?

Gary Johnson: Yes, exactly. We don’t live in a democracy, we live in a republic. We live in a country that’s governed by laws. If we lived in a democracy, we could all vote ourselves a raise, and we wouldn’t be able to afford that, and that’s been the demise of democracies. We live in a republic, and if we lose sight of that, we do so at the expense of individual freedom and liberty.

Related:

• An Interview with Governor Gary Johnson on What He Would Do as President
• Gary Johnson on Republican Capitulation and His Presidential Bid

Image: Wikipedia Commons

Posted in: History, Individual Rights and Law, Presidential Candidates