Mr. Buchanan: We Are Not a Democracy—And the World Needs to Learn From Us

Economic nationalist Pat Buchanan opined last week that the United States’ fraught political climate is turning the world against democracy. In his article “How Democracy is Losing the Word”, he argued that our country’s sharply divided political culture, the corporate media’s obsession with Trump, plus authoritarian regimes’ economic successes were making democracy look bad. However, Buchanan’s repeat pessimism is based on a fundamental flaw, one which inadvertently exposes the very political and societal maladies he diagnosed that are generating upheaval in Europe, Canada, and throughout the Western World.

Early in his lamenting jeremiad, Buchanan writes: “And what will a watching world be thinking when it sees the once-great republic preoccupied with breaking yet another president?” But then he writes: “Among the reasons democracy is in discredit and retreat worldwide is that its exemplar and champion, the USA, is beginning to resemble France’s Third Republic in its last days before World War II.” So, which is it, Pat? Is the United States a republic or a democracy? One of our Founding Fathers already answered this question: “A republic, if you can keep it.” The difference matters. Sadly, Buchanan’s seeming indifference to this fundamental distinction occurs often—and is too often overlooked.

Before debunking the so-called “crisis of democracy”, is it really true that the autocratic regimes he references are enjoying the peace and prosperity? China’s market economy within a brutal dictatorship is stalling big timev because of President Trump’s successful trade and tariff offensive. China’s militant repression against the Muslim Uighurs is disgusting Chinese and foreign nationals alike. Turkey has become a third-world dystopia, hardly a shining beacon of economic prosperity and national security.

But what else does Buchanan get wrong?

Despite the crises emerging in the corporate press, the United States is a remarkable testimony to good government, in that we are a republic. Counter-majoritarian institutions like the Electoral College and separate state government have ensured effective limits to very cultural malaise eating away at Europe. The corrupt media, for all its progressive posturing, could not stop Trump, either.

But why does Buchanan’s mix-up matter? How does his mistake inadvertently explain the reason for the Western Malaise he diagnoses?

First, let’s define the differences, which rest on more than who votes for whom. In a democracy, the rule of law is the rule of the majority, regardless of established norms and institutions.  In spite of the rights and responsibilities championed by Ancient Athens, the majority of Athenians voted for Socrates’ death because they didn’t like his views. The Wiemar Republic, a makeshift democracy assembled after Germany’s fall in World War I, transformed into a fascist tyranny under democratically elected Adolph Hitler.

To avoid these perverse outcomes, the American Framers disparaged democracy, which amounts to two wolves and a lamb voting on what—or rather who—is for dinner. Aristotle, himself a statist-elitist in Ancient Athens, described a republic as “rule by the many for the benefit of all”, in contrast to democracy, “rule by the many for the benefit of the many.” In a republic, the rule of law curbs the rule of the majority. Socrates would have received constitutional protections to disparage directly-elected rulers without fear. In a republic, no one is above the law, including the crowd as well as the individual ruler or the governing class.

The United States’ republican Constitution outlines institutions to channel as well as check and balance popular, aristocratic, and autocratic tendencies. Counter-majoritarian institutions like the US Supreme Court serve as final arbiters for legal disputes. State and local governments rebuff federal power. Enumerated powers and the Bill of Rights describe the boundaries for the government, not the people. These arrangements preserve individual liberty as well as local sovereignty, and both arrangements safeguard the interests of all. If the world is witnessing the demise of “democracy”, we should rejoice.

But will republicanism take its place? Anti-globalist protesters around the world may be rejecting “democracy”, but they need to understand why and agitate for something better. Populism in terms of policy outcomes is noteworthy. However, populism as the means for governing is not. Conservative and progressive nationalists plus the vast majority of the Yellow Jacket protestors understand that corporate interests and globalist activists have twisted democracy to their selfish ends. The answer does not lie in more “Power to the People”, but less power to the state. They must fight for natural law and natural rights, which means a constraint on government power altogether, not more democracy.

Pat Buchanan’s unintended confusion should concern us, since it reflects the underlying problems in the West. Younger generations around the world don’t know the difference between democracy and republicanism. They certainly don’t understand how democracy is inimical to individual and national liberty, while republicanism preserves both. The older (and newer) generation of reporters, liberal and conservative, don’t respect this difference, either, and their views are informing the public discussion as a whole. At the very least, conservative pundits who serve as the only source of good political science should understand this difference. It’s not ethnic nationalism, but republicanism that can Make the West Great Again.

If citizens in countries can’t distinguish between democracy’s failures and republican successes, these worldwide uprisings won’t accomplish lasting improvements. They rightly oppose the consequences of unfettered expansion of the state, and they are demanding that the governments be more responsive to “The People”. However, more government elected by “the people” will not bring about a limited government protecting citizens’ rights and safeguarding the nation from domestic insurrection and foreign invasion.

There is no demise of democracy in the United States, since we are not a democracy. Furthermore, Europe’s answers to open borders, higher taxes, diminished public safety, and cultural ennui sweeping those nations lie in the adoption of America’s republicanism: definition and protection of the natural rights of citizens, installation of principled checks and balances within government, and recognition of the nation-state to establish its borders, language, and culture—with a commitment to protect the Judeo-Christian principles that inspired the United States Constitution.

Reflection on the Death of George Herbert Walker Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush has passed away, the latest President to serve only one term and the last one to serve in World War II. I am not saddened by his passing, although elements of his legacy are remarkable. He was the first President I recall from my childhood. Although I was born in 1980, and Ronald Reagan was the first President in my lifetime, I don’t remember the Gipper. I do remember George H.W. Bush from the outset of his administration, when he was sworn in as Reagan’s hopeful successor. In fact, in January 1989 I watched his inauguration ceremony along with the rest of my second-grade classmates.

What else comes to mind, however, when I think of the Elder President Bush? My Aunt Frannie from West Mifflin, Pennsylvania in late 1991, the last time that I visited her. She was irate in those days. Why? “Read my lips! No new taxes!” she griped to me. Next, she pointed out the rising taxes shrinking her already fixed retirement income. She later mentioned how every foreign-made car on the streets of Pittsburg (right down the valley from her home) put four Americans out of work. She probably would have voted for Trump if she were alive today, but she definitely hated Bush.

Another childhood memory: A group of protesters outside of my local post office were denouncing President Bush. “He is Nero-Minded!”, one pamphlet read. The demonstrators informed me more about this New World Order, an agenda troubles Americans even today. Our country should never surrender its unique place—and role—in a world fraught with tyranny and seduced by socialism. No doubt, Phyliss Schlafy was extremely dismissive of this so-called Republican, especially since he remained committed to promulgating the aggressive, interventionist foreign policy of the Kissinger era two decades before. Governments which fight wars for the few at the expense of the rest cannot continue.

Despite his rise to prominence with pro-America conservative Ronald Reagan, Bush remained vocally committed to the Globalism fantasy, the notion that nations should further cooperate, even submit their sovereignty to a larger global agency in the pursuit of world peace. The contradiction manifested itself so clearly when Bush posited a “New World Order” as a commitment to the rule of law, when such legal strictures require respect for individual nation-states, but certainly not to a global organization like the corrupt, feckless United Nations. Bush signed into law the legislative program which gave us Agenda 21 today. Bush was a civilized statist, to say the least, but a statist nonetheless.

His reticence on the world stage was not commendable, either, following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the downfall of the Soviet Union, and the whole Communist enterprise. Some middling conservatives and contrived moderate Republicans look to Bush’s effusive demeanor during that time with fondness. “It was good for President Bush not to rub this massive victory in Russia’s face,” they will claim. I could not disagree more. While our leaders should seek peace with all world leaders, Bush should have extensively commended his predecessor’s calm, dedicated resolve to consign communism to the ash-heap of history. If there was a new world order to celebrate, that was the time, an order where principled leaders fight for individual liberty at all costs and sanction those countries who don’t. To this day, I cry with joy recalling Berlins on both sides of the wall dancing, cheering, and knocking down that tyrannical blockade. President Bush should have welcomed those victories with greater acclaim.

The worst thing that Bush 41 did during his administration, though? He betrayed his base, the Reaganites who had swept into power a conservative revolution sixteen years in the making would see its reversal during his one-term troubles. “Read my lips: no new taxes!” Bush had triumphantly promised to great acclaim at the 1988 Republican National Committee Convention. Two years later, November 5^th, 1990, Bush said to the voters “Kiss My Butt!” and signed into law a massive omnibus, riddled with tax increases, which in turn became “Pay Through the Nose”. The fact that the press and academy would praise “his courage” for raising taxes on the rest of us was just sickening. There is no courage when forcing other people to pay for your costs.

Despite his successful military leadership during Operation Desert Shield—later Operation Desert Storm—in Iraq, the recession which followed crippled Bush’s already waning re-election chances in 1992. He was the architect of his own undoing. The roaring Reagan Revolution economy wavered because of the tax increases. The supply-side economics which allowed individuals, including business owners and wealthy investors, to keep their money actually works. Bush the Big Government liberal Republican called such free market reforms “voodoo economics” in his frustrated bid for the Presidency in 1980. Bush was also a social liberal, comfortable with abortion and certainly non-committal when it came to natural marriage.

A Rockefeller Republican long after the liberal Governor of New York turned short-lived Vice President had passed away. Conservatism with conviction (not globalist accommodation) rescued the United States from moral and fiscal decline in 1980. That same resolve saved America with the election of President Donald Trump—and with it a final repudiation of Bush’s elitist statism. No wonder Bush voted for Hillary.

As expected, just as the legacy (liberal, anti-Trump) media gushed over the deceased “Republican” US Senator John McCain, so too they are tripping over themselves to celebrate George H. W. Bush. His private life, from his 73-year marriage to Barbara Pierce to the storied legacy of his political family succeeding on their own merits, deserves reflection and praise. His service to the United States during World War II was commendable, as he received the Distinguished Flying Cross for “bravery under fire”.  Let the media fawn all they please about President Bush, the dedicated family man and veteran. However, as President, the elder Bush was a failure whose disregard for his party’s principles and our country’s values were ill-placed in the White House.

Virginia’s US Senate Race: Trumplicanism vs. Corporate Globalism

MAGA candidates were big winners on the June 12^th primary, a continuing referendum from working, law-abiding Americans who want their elected representatives to put Americans First. Candidates who strayed from Trump’s agenda or spent more time attacking than working toward the President’s goals, they faced a reckoning. Mark Sanford of South Carolina was the most notable example.

Virginia’s US Senate GOP primary was also contentious and the most revealing about the populist trend redefining the Republican Party. It’s bad enough to have a left-wing Sandinista type like Tim Kaine serving as Virginia’s junior Senator. It’s worse that Virginia’s Republican party pundit class seem more interest in accommodating rather than confronting the culture wars head on.

The Liberty Caucus/Koch Brothers/Establishment pick was state senator Nick Freitas. He gave a stirring speech on the floor of the Virginia State Senate which went viral. He has a solid but scant conservative voting record. Corey Stewart is the four-term Chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors. He represents a county which is majority-minority, the second-most populous compared to Fairfax County, which some have likened to Los Angeles County: congested, cosmopolitan, and heavily Democratic. Stewart not only pushed for his county to oppose illegal immigration, but to remove all illegal aliens from the region. He proudly implemented the 287(g) program to deputize county police to help with immigration enforcement.

Stewart has also been a committed conservative activist. He demanded the Virginia GOP leadership to resign following their terrible losses in 2017. He protested the Fairfax County Sheriff’s decision to end its 287(g) programs. He recently rallied railed against Virginia General Assembly Republicans for voting for the Obamacare Medicaid Expansion! Oh, and he also ran Virginia’s Trump campaign.

Despite all this, the Virginia political establishment doesn’t like him.

Stewart’s sharpest critics included a Townhall.com contributor who connected him with an anti-Semite. This allegation stems from his former friendship with populist outsider Paul Nehlen, who ran a primary challenge against Speaker of the House Paul Ryan by going after the Trans-Pacific Partnership. During his second bid against Ryan, Nehlen’s comments veered from fiery populism to violence and anti-Semitism. Breitbart News and Corey Stewart disavowed the man. Case closed.

Critics also slam Stewart’s brief association (if any) with the Unite the Right Rally organizer in Charlottesville. Like Trump, Stewart has condemned white supremacy, including on the Left, and he denounced the violence which erupted on both sides, including Antifa. The media chose to ignore the violence on the Left. Nevertheless, Stewart has sparred valiantly against this bias many times, especially on CNN. Check out his victory lap on the segment, too.

Stewart’s opponents played the “alt-right”  and the race card up until Primary Day, and Stewart carried the nomination. Yes, it was close, but Pastor E. W. Jackson taking 12% of the vote, too. Pastor Jackson’s views are as conservative as Stewart’s, so one can surmise that they will gravitate toward Stewart in the general election.

The attacks from the media, left and right, against Corey Stewart sound a lot like Trump Derangement Syndrome. One Fox Newscaster at the outset described him as the guy who wanted to protect the Confederate statues throughout Virginia. Does this make Stewart that controversial? In 2017, Democrat Ralph Northam stopped campaigning against the removal of the statues, and even Ed Gillespie talked about preserving Virginia’s heritage.

Stewart is not a blackguard but the vanguard candidate which Virginia Republicans need to support. The state has gone from purple to blue since since the mid-2000s. From the DC Swamp to the biased left-wing media, plus mass migration, Virginia is not the ruby-red paradise it used to be.

Instead of rejecting the GOP Establishment playbook of focusing on general income issues and running an “inclusive” campaign, Virginia’s “conservative” political class needs to confront the hard-left policies implemented by the growing Democratic cohort. Illegal immigration is ruining the Old Dominion, and a new class of Republicans like Stewart are tackling the issue head-on.

Is that a political playbook for failure?

Stewart’s primary victory includes precincts in Northern Virginia, which had been dragging the state down. He has voiced the concerns of middle-income families have been feeling the economic pinch. He champions the small businesses are competing with illegal aliens–both workers and employers!– who don’t play by the rules. He openly embraces President Trump’s record and rhetoric. Like the President, Stewart is a fighter who will wage a “vicious campaign” to brand Tim Kaine as a corporate stiff, a Hillarybot who will sell the country to the lowest bidder. At this victory party, Stewart chanted with stalwarts “Lock Her Up!”

The Establishment backed Freitas because he was not Corey, with a storied military career and the backing of diverse interest groups. He still lost, though, since Stewart had a strong political machine from his chairmanship on Trump campaign in 2016 and his failed gubernatorial bid the next year. But for some fake polls which suggested that he didn’t have a chance, Stewart would have been the nominee.  He lost that race by only 1% point. He won the US Senate primary by the same margin. Poetic justice, perhaps.

Or not. The anti-Trump GOP establishment (The Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol, former Virginia Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling, among others) would rather lose than back their candidate. Should their arrogant diffidence worry the Stewart campaign or the GOP’s chances to defeat Tim Kaine? The same Beltway Bevy of newsstand conservatives rejected Trump—and he’s our President. Previous statewide candidates ignored illegal immigration (Cuccinnelli) or stayed away from the President (Ed Gillespie), and they lost. Who cares what “yesterday’s men” have to say?

Republican voters have rejected the corporatist, globalist Bush-Boehner brand of Republicanism. They want Trumplicanism, an America First political party which looks out for the little guy, the suburban family, the working-class blue-collar man, and the minority voters who want to enjoy the American Dream as Americans. Stewart supports those values, and Virginians should support, or prepare for the Old Dominion to become the Democratic Domination.