Uploaded August 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
It seems like every election cycle people can't wait to have all manner of pointless debates, where two factions engage in politics as team sport. Competing to see which team can talk the most while substantively saying the least and competing to see who can actively & most thoroughly dismiss their opponent's arguments Prima Facie. I am speaking of the controversy over whether we are a Democracy or a Constitutional Republic.
I want to end this whole debate by proving that anyone who presents you with this choice is trying to sell you a false bill of goods... This holds true both when being discussed in the parlance of our times and then through an Originalist argument based directly on the arguments made by those who drafted and ratified the Constitution.
I will be doing this by re-enacting that Great Debate between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists over what our system of government should operate in alignment with our Nation's founding moral philosophy, that is known as American Constitutional Republicanism
►00:00 Introduction
►02:35 Constitutional Republic or Democracy
►12:40 Historical Evidence
►17:58 Montesquieu's Political taxonomy
►27:50 American Constitutional Republicanism
►30:30 The Great Debate - Advocates and Opponents of the Constitution
Articles by Eugene Volokh
reason.com/2015/05/13/is-the-united-states-of-americ
reason.com/2016/11/14/the-united-states-is-both-a-re
reason.com/2016/12/16/is-america-a-republic-or-a-dem
"A Republic, Not A Democracy? Initiative, Referendum, and the Constitution's Guarantee Clause" By: Robert Natelson works.bepress.com/robert_natelson/24
"How the U.S. Election Process Has Changed" By: Sam Jacobs silverdoctors.com/headlines/world-news/constitutional-republic-vs-pure-democracy-how-the-u-s-election-process-has-changed
Baron de Montesquieu,
Complete Works, vol. 1: oll.libertyfund.org/titles/montesquieu-complete-works-vol-1-the-spirit-of-laws
The Spirit of the Laws (1748) thefederalistpapers.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/The-Spirit-of-The-Laws.pdf
The Federalist Papers: thefederalistpapers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/The-Complete-Federalist-Papers.pdf
Collected works of Greco-Roman philosophers and historians of Classical Republicanism
Thucydides - oll.libertyfund.org/people/thucydides
Aristotle - oll.libertyfund.org/people/Aristotle
Tacitus - oll.libertyfund.org/people/publius-cornelius-tacitus
Plutarch - oll.libertyfund.org/people/plutarch
Livy - oll.libertyfund.org/people/titus-livius-livy
Cicero - oll.libertyfund.org/people/marcus-tullius-cicero
It seems like every election cycle people can't wait to have all manner of pointless debates, where two factions engage in politics as team sport. Competing to see which team can talk the most while substantively saying the least and competing to see who can actively & most thoroughly dismiss their opponent's arguments Prima Facie. I am speaking of the controversy over whether we are a Democracy or a Constitutional Republic.
I want to end this whole debate by proving that anyone who presents you with this choice is trying to sell you a false bill of goods... This holds true both when being discussed in the parlance of our times and then through an Originalist argument based directly on the arguments made by those who drafted and ratified the Constitution.
I will be doing this by re-enacting that Great Debate between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists over what our system of government should operate in alignment with our Nation's founding moral philosophy, that is known as American Constitutional Republicanism
►00:00 Introduction
►02:35 Constitutional Republic or Democracy
►12:40 Historical Evidence
►17:58 Montesquieu's Political taxonomy
►27:50 American Constitutional Republicanism
►30:30 The Great Debate - Advocates and Opponents of the Constitution
Articles by Eugene Volokh
reason.com/2015/05/13/is-the-united-states-of-americ
reason.com/2016/11/14/the-united-states-is-both-a-re
reason.com/2016/12/16/is-america-a-republic-or-a-dem
"A Republic, Not A Democracy? Initiative, Referendum, and the Constitution's Guarantee Clause" By: Robert Natelson works.bepress.com/robert_natelson/24
"How the U.S. Election Process Has Changed" By: Sam Jacobs silverdoctors.com/headlines/world-news/constitutional-republic-vs-pure-democracy-how-the-u-s-election-process-has-changed
Baron de Montesquieu,
Complete Works, vol. 1: oll.libertyfund.org/titles/montesquieu-complete-works-vol-1-the-spirit-of-laws
The Spirit of the Laws (1748) thefederalistpapers.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/The-Spirit-of-The-Laws.pdf
The Federalist Papers: thefederalistpapers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/The-Complete-Federalist-Papers.pdf
Collected works of Greco-Roman philosophers and historians of Classical Republicanism
Thucydides - oll.libertyfund.org/people/thucydides
Aristotle - oll.libertyfund.org/people/Aristotle
Tacitus - oll.libertyfund.org/people/publius-cornelius-tacitus
Plutarch - oll.libertyfund.org/people/plutarch
Livy - oll.libertyfund.org/people/titus-livius-livy
Cicero - oll.libertyfund.org/people/marcus-tullius-cicero
