I was able to get straight through to the Honzman on the April 2, 2000 Fred Honsberger Live program to alert Honz's listeners, Honz, and Honz's guest Matthew J. Glavin, President Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) to the misstatement I felt was made by Mr. Glavin when he referred to the United States as a democracy. During the segment, Mr. Glavin gave us some keen insights and updates on the Legal Foundation's role in its effort to have the government follow the rule of law concerning the Census.
At one point, Mr. Glavin casually referred to the United States as a republic, then, while making another point about the Census, he referred to the United States as a representative democracy.
As soon as I heard that, I called into Honsberger Live, and was able to get through immediately. Read the transcript of our exchange RIGHT HERE.
After I identified myself and corrected Mr. Glavin, Glavin's position seemed to become even more adamant. He said in response "all of the history books around the world say that a republic is a representative democracy."
Of course, there wasn't time to argue, and I was appreciative that Honzman allowed for the exchange.
HONZMAN: You're on Honsberger Live. Good Morning.
DIRT: Good morning. I am appreciating all of the wonderful information you're giving us. You certainly seem to be setting us straight about the Census (2000) and what it should be used for. But I would like to correct you on one thing, and I hope, I'm sure, you'll understand why. You did refer to us as a republic, and you're absolutely right. We, the United States, are a republic. And that means that we are a representative government. However, we are not a representative democracy. A democracy is of the people. The people rule. We, the United States being a republic, have the rule of law, and there's a very grave difference there. I think by the information that you are giving, you are certainly impressing upon the people that we are a nation of rule of law. So I just wanted to set you straight on that, and hope you'll take it in the good faith that I've given it.
MATT GLAVIN: ... this is a debate that comes up regularly. But if you look in any history book in the world, republic means representative democracy. I understand that it is a government of the people. The Constitution grants power to the people. But then the people elect representatives to represent them in the making of the laws. So indeed we are a representative democracy. In a representative democracy, we the people can get rid of our representatives once every two years, or once every six years, depending on whether they're in the House or the Senate.