https://amgreatness.com/2020/10/09/the-inverted-monarchy-why-democracy-is-only-a-means-to-an-end/
What we seem to forget is a thing that the founders knew all too well: that anything we build is only as sturdy as the material out of which it is constructed. The durability of the nation depends upon the quality of its people.
Ask anyone you know why democracy is the only acceptable form of government, and they will be quick to explain: it’s because other forms provide no remedy for corrupt or tyrannical rulers. But as we have seen, in the inverted monarchy we call democracy, the king’s sovereignty rests, instead, with the people. What remedy, then, do democratic systems provide for a corrupt and tyrannical people? What bulwark do we have against that?
The answer is: nothing—nothing at all—but the Constitution. It is only words on paper, but for 242 years it nevertheless has been the bedrock of our public liberty. Beneath it, there is only the abyss.
In these darkening times, then, we should remember the words of Patrick Henry:
“Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel.”
By Malcolm Pollack
October 9, 2020