Black Robe Regiment of Virginia » Blog Archive America: A Constitutional Republic or Representative Democracy? » Black Robe Regiment of Virginia

Michael Farris at Restore American Liberty Project in response to the following question from a college student:

Is America a Constitutional Republic or Representative Democracy? What is the difference between the two? I always thought we were a Constitutional Republic. However, my (secular) college textbooks suggest a Representative Democracy.

Michael Farris:  The answer is that it is complicated. The Founding Fathers used the term “democracy” in two ways—one general, one specific. Sometimes they would use the term “democracy” to describe all forms of self-government. In that sense, the United States is a democracy.

But, in the more specific sense, democracy means when the people directly make the law. The federal government is not a democracy in that sense. However, the term “representative democracy” is actually a synonym for a republic. This means that the legislators elected by the people make the law. A constitutional republic is where the legislators elected by the people make laws but only as authorized by the Constitution.

So the most accurate description of the federal government as designed by the Constitution is a constitutional republic.

At the state level, it is different. There is a mix of a constitutional republic and a democracy. Whenever people vote on ballot issues they are acting as a pure democracy. The rest of the time they are acting as a constitutional republic.

Now, all of this is how it is designed on paper. In actual practice, we are living in a mixed republic, oligarchy, and dictatorship. When Congress makes laws authorized by the Constitution, it is a constitutional republic. When Congress exceeds the Constitution and passes laws anyway, it is a tyrannical republic. When the Supreme Court makes laws it is an oligarchy. When Obama makes laws by executive order it is a dictatorship.

Michael P. Farris Biography

Michael Farris is the chancellor of Patrick Henry College and chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association. He was the founding president of each organization.

Farris is a constitutional appellate litigator who has served as lead counsel in the United States Supreme Court, eight federal circuit courts, and the appellate courts of 13 states.

He has been a leader on Capitol Hill for over 30 years and is widely known for his leadership on homeschooling, religious freedom, and the preservation of American sovereignty. At Patrick Henry College, Farris teaches constitutional law, public international law, and coaches Patrick Henry College’s Moot Court team which has won six national championships. A prolific author, Farris has been recognized with a number of awards including the Salvatori Prize for American Citizenship by the Heritage Foundation and as one of the “Top 100 Faces in Education for the 20th Century” by Education Week magazine. Mike and Vickie Farris have 10 children and 14 grandchildren.