A republic is a government that respects the rule-of-law. Will America’s Republican Party continue to be republican?
Part of understanding modern American politics is understanding words, and today’s word is republicanism. American politics adds a lot of complications and caveats to the historical concept, so this post will focus not on the Republican Party but on republicanism, the small-R historical notion that identifies a political ideology and a philosophy of government.
The Republican Party started in 1854 but small-R republicanism is much older than that, dating back to Greek civilization, centuries before the Roman Empire. The essence of republicanism is the republic, which refers to a government that respects rule-of-law. A republic is a country where the people put their government and its laws above any individual citizen or organization. Most Americans lose interest at this point, ‘rule-of-law’ being one of those vague platitudes that we hear in civics class and then take for granted for the next seventy years, like fresh air and the sun that rises over our heads. Perhaps that is why rule-of-law is at risk in so many parts of the world today, including in America.
The respect for rule-of-law implies a government that dominates and supersedes all other human organizations and structures. Some very decent people believe that religion comes first in…
