By DAVID FREED

One of the common myths of the last few decades has been the idea that “we are a republic, not a democracy” and that democracies are bad. For example, in his November 2020 letter Fred Wilferth writes “In a republic, minorities have rights, in democracies only the majority does.”

So, are we a republic or a democracy? The truth is, we are both!

At the time of our nation’s founding a “republic” was defined as a nation which was not ruled by tyranny or by a monarch, even a Christian, like King George.

Defining democracy is a bit more nuanced, since there are different types of democracies. But our nation’s founders envisioned that we’d use a democratic process to make decisions and rule ourselves.

There are people who say that some of our founders found fault with the idea of a democracy. But as Jack Reacher says, in an investigation – as in politics and nation-building – details matter.

Specifically, some early Americans warned against a direct or “pure” democracy, which they likened to mob rule. In a pure democracy all those who are eligible to vote (who were often a small part of the population) get to directly participate in all decision-making.

This was tried in ancient Athens, in Florence and other Italian city-states, in small ancient republics like Switzerland, and even in settlements in 17th century colonial America. Besides being unfair, it was chaotic and unworkable.

James Madison in Federalist paper No. 10 warned that “pure democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention” and tended to be short-lived.

Instead, our nation’s founders spelled out in our Constitution a process for representative democracy, where citizens elect others to make decisions – balancing participation with practicality.

A much cruder argument against democracy relies on caveman logic like this: “ugh, democracy and the Democratic Party BAD; republic and the Republican Party … GOOD!”

This primitive “logic” was alive and well at last year’s Washington State Republican Convention, where they passed a resolution encouraging “Republicans to substitute the words ‘republic’ and ‘republicanism’ where previously they have used the word ‘democracy.’”

Too bad some in the state GOP don’t believe their own words, because at the same convention state GOP chair Jim Walsh told his fellow Republicans to “go forth and encourage others to join us in this experiment in democratic government.”

And earlier this year JD Vance said, “Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters …. And that … is the great magic of democracy.”

So, is being both a republic and a representative democracy good or bad? Our nation’s founders thought it was a good combination, and JD Vance and I agree.

David Freed is a longtime resident of Whidbey Island. Before retiring he worked for 25 years in public service, most recently as a city planner for Mukilteo and as an environmental planner for King County.