For several centuries we have associated democracy with human liberation, thanks to a combination of reason, economic growth, and popular sovereignty, from the prisons of ignorance, dependency, tradition, and divine right. We undertook to give society an economic, political, and cultural impetus by freeing it from all absolutes, religions, and state ideologies, so that it would be subject only to truth and to the criteria of knowledge. We placed our trust in the apparent links between technical efficiency, political freedom, cultural tolerance, and personal happiness.
The difference between the republic and democracy is not an inactive one. It has great legal importance. The Constitution promises to all states a Republic form of government. Our Republic is one committed to "freedom as well as righteousness for every one." Minority individual rights are the main concern. The people have natural rights instead of civil rights. The people are guarded by the Bill of Rights from the majority. One vote in adjudicators can stop the complete majority from denying any one of the people of his privileges; this would not be so if the United States were a democratic system.......
