Live 365. The wheels are behind the scenes Controlling everything From the daily news we read to the politicians And they're pulling up financial strings More powerful than kings It's the central bank elites Bringing our destruction Restore the republic Wake up it's time to make us stand Restore the republic We have a people and we can Restore the Republic We're derelictin' still in black Restore the Republic We gotta take them through the night America arises Time to open up our eyes Down the road to freedom If we look beyond blue They'll take our rights away So we the people must defeat on me Restore the Republic! Money till we choke Shoving taxes down our throats Bailing out banks we don't even owe It's a ruination They're invading our privacy With high technology Microchip in our ID It's a combination Of this time and money For the Republic! States of America. Benjamin Franklin exited the Constitutional Convention. He was asked by a woman, sir, what have you given us? His immediate response was, a republic, ma'am, if you can keep it. Yet most Americans today have been persuaded that our nation's governmental system is a democracy and not a republic. The difference between these two is essential in understanding Americanism and the American system. Before we discuss political systems, however, it's helpful to address the confusion that has been spread about the political spectrum. Many have been led to believe that the political spectrum places groups such as Communists on the far left, Fascists or Dictators on the far right, and Political Moderates or Centrists in the middle. However, a more accurate political spectrum will show government having zero power on the far right to having 100% power on the far left. At the extreme right, there is no government. The extreme left features total government under such labels as communism, socialism, Nazism, fascism, princes, potentates, dictators, kings, any form of total government. Those who claim that Nazis and Fascists are right-wing never define their terms. This amounts to spreading confusion. Toward the middle of the political spectrum can be found the type of government limited to its proper role of protecting the rights of the people. That's where the Constitution of the United States is. Those who advocate such a form of government are really constitutional moderates. So let's analyze the basic forms of government. They are monarchy or dictatorship rule by one, oligarchy rule by a few, democracy rule by a majority, republic rule by law, and anarchy, which is ruled by no one. In discussing these five, we'll see that they can be narrowed down to even fewer. Looking first at monarchy or dictatorship, this form of government doesn't really exist in the practical sense. It's always a group that puts one of its members up front. A king has his council of nobles or earls, and every dictator has his bureaucrats or commissars, the men behind the scenes. This isn't ruled by one, even though one person may be the visible leader. It's ruled by a group. So let's eliminate monarchy, dictatorship, because it never truly exists. Oligarchy, which is ruled by a group, is the most common form of government in all history. And it is the most common form of government today. Most of the nations of the world are ruled by a powerful few. And therefore oligarchy remains. At the other end we find anarchy, which means without government. Some people have looked over history and found that many of its worst crimes were committed by governments. So they decided that having no government might be a good idea. But this is a mistake, because as the ancient Greeks stated, without law there can be no freedom. Our founding fathers agreed and held that some amount of government is a necessary force in any civilized orderly society. In a state of anarchy however, everyone has to guard life, liberty and property and the lives of family members. Everyone must be armed and movement is severely restricted because one's property has to be protected at all times. Civilized people have always hired someone to do the guarding, a sheriff, a police force, or some branch of government. Once law enforcement was in place, the people were freer. They could leave their property, work in the fields, and so on. In short, the proper amount of government makes everyone freer. There are some who advocate anarchy, however, not because they want no government, but because they don't like what they have. They use anarchy as a tool for revolutionary change. The condition of anarchy is very much like a vacuum where something rushes in to fill it. These calculating anarchists work to break down the existing government with rioting, killing, looting and terrorism. Tragically, the people living in such chaos often go to those best able to put an end to it and beg them to take over and restore order. And who is best able to put an end to the chaos? The very people who started it. The anarchists who created the problem then created government run by them in oligarchy where they have total power. This is exactly what happened in Russia that led to Lenin taking total power and in Germany where Hitler's brown shirts created the chaos that brought him to power. But anarchy isn't a stable form of government. It's a quick transition from something that exists to something desired by the power-hungry. It's a temporary condition. And because it isn't permanent, we eliminate it as well. The word democracy comes from two Greek words, dimos meaning people and kratian meaning to rule. Democracy therefore means the rule of the people, majority rule. This of course sounds good, but suppose the majority decides to take away one's home or business or children. Obviously there has to be a limit. The flaw in democracy is that the majority isn't restrained. If more than half the people can be persuaded to want something in a democracy, they rule. What about Republic? Well, that comes from the Latin. Res meaning thing and publica meaning public. It means the public thing, the law. A true republic is one where the government is limited by law, leaving the people alone. America's founders had a clean slate to write on. They could have set up an oligarchy. In fact, there were some who wanted George Washington to be their king. But the founding fathers knew history and they chose to give us the rule of law in a republic Not the rule of a majority in a democracy Why? Let's demonstrate the difference in the setting of the old west Consider a lynch mob in a democracy 35 horseback riders chase one lone gunman they catch him and they vote 35 to 1 to hang him Democracy has triumphed and there's one less gunman to contend with Now consider the same scenario in a republic. The 35 horseback riders catch the gunman and vote 35 to 1 to hang him. But the sheriff arrives and he says, you can't kill him. He's got his right to a fair trial. So they take the gunman back to town. A jury of his peers is selected and they hear the evidence and the defense and they decide if he shall hang. Does the jury even decide by majority rule? No, it has to be unanimous or he goes free. The rights of the government aren't subject to majority rule, but to the law. This is the essence of a republic. Many Americans would be surprised to learn that the word democracy does not appear in the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution. Nor does it appear in any of the constitutions of the 50 states. The Founders did everything they could to keep us from having a democracy. James Madison, rightly known as the father of the Constitution, wrote in essay number 10 of the Federalist Papers, Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention, have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property, and have in general been in short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. Alexander Hamilton agreed and he stated, we are a republican government, real liberty is never found in despotism or in the extremes of democracy. Samuel Adams, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, stated, Democracy never lasts long, it soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. The founders had good reason to look upon democracy with contempt because they knew that the democracies in the early Greek city states produced some of the wildest excesses of government imaginable. In every case they ended up with mob rule, then anarchy and finally tyranny under an oligarchy. During that period in Greece there was a man named Solon who urged creation of a fixed body of law not subject to majority whims. But where the Greeks never adopted Solon's wise counsel, the Romans did. Based on what they knew of Solon's laws, they created the twelve tables of the Roman law and in effect built a republic that limited government power and left the people alone. Since government was limited, the people were free to produce with the understanding that they could keep the fruits of their labor. In time, Rome became wealthy and the envy of the world. In the midst of plenty, however, the Roman people forgot what freedom entailed. They forgot that the essence of freedom is the proper limitation of government. When government power grows, people freedom recedes. Once the Romans dropped their guard, power-seeking politicians began to exceed the powers granted them in the Roman constitution. Some learned that they could elect politicians who would use government power to take property from some and give it to others. Agriculture subsidies were introduced, followed by housing and welfare programs. Inevitably, taxes rose and controls over the private sector were imposed. Soon, a number of roamed producers could no longer make ends meet, and they went on the dole. Productivity declined, shortages developed, and mobs began roaming the streets, demanding bread and circuses from the government. Many were induced to trade freedom for security. Eventually the whole system came crashing down. They went from a republic to a democracy and ended up with an oligarchy under a progression of the Caesars. Thus, democracy itself is not a stable form of government. Instead, it is the gradual transition from limited government to the unlimited rule of an oligarchy. Knowing this, we as Americans are ultimately left with only two choices. We can keep our Republic as Franklin put it or we will inevitably end up with an oligarchy a tyranny of the elite teacher that I had. Now I only, I went through the seventh grade, I went through the seventh grade. I left home when I was ten years old because I was hungry. I used to, this is true, I'd work in the summer and I'd go to school in the winter. But I had this one teacher, he was the principal of the Harrison School in Vincennes, Indiana. To me this was the greatest teacher, a real sage of my time anyhow. He had such wisdom. And we were all reciting the Pledge of Allegiance one day. And he walked over, this little old teacher, Mr. Laswell was his name. Mr. Laswell, he says, he says, I've been listening to you boys and girls recite the Pledge of Allegiance all semester. And it seems as though it's becoming monotonous to you. If I may, may I recite it and try to explain to you the meaning of each word. I, me, an individual of a committee of one, pledge, dedicate all of my worldly goods to give without self-pity, allegiance, my love and my devotion to the flag, our standard, O glory, a symbol of freedom. Wherever she waves, there's respect. Because your loyalty has given her a dignity that shouts freedom is everybody's job. United. That means that we have all come together. States. Individual communities that have united into 48 great states. 48 individual communities with pride and dignity and purpose. All divided with imaginary boundaries yet united to a common purpose. And that's love for country. And to the republic, a state in which sovereign power is invested in representative chosen by the people to govern. And government is the people. And it's from the people to the leaders, not from the leaders to the people. For which it stands. One nation, one nation, meaning so blessed by God. Indivisible, incapable of being divided with liberty, which is freedom, the right of power to live one's own life without threats, fear, or some sort of retaliation and justice. The principle are qualities of dealing fairly with others. For all, for all, which means boys and girls, it is much your country. as it is mine. And now, boys and girls, let me hear you recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our country and two words have been added to the Pledge of Allegiance under God. Wouldn't it be a pity if someone said that is a prayer and that would be eliminated from schools too? Face the flag, son. Read what's written there. The history, the progress, the heritage we share. Our flag reflects the past, son, but stands for so much more. And in this age of Aquarius, It still flies in the fold. It leads the forward movement, shared by all mankind, to learn, to love, to live with peace of mind, to learn the mysteries of space as well as those of Earth, to love each man for what he is, regardless of his birth, to live without the fear of reprisal or relief, to ease the tensions of a world that cries out for relief. Face the flag, son. Take a good long look. What you're seeing now can't be found in the history book. It's the present, the future, son, being written now. You're the one to write it. The flag can show you how. You know what it stands for? What it's Maker's myth? Think, speak, privilege of dissent. To think our leaders might be wrong to stand and tell them so. These are the things that other men under other flags will never know on responsibility That's the cross the three men must bear if you don't accept that freedom isn't there Face the flag son face reality our strength and our freedoms are based in unity Flag is what a symbol son the world's greatest nation As long as it keeps flying, there's cause for celebration. So do what you gotta do, but always keep in mind. A lot of people believe in peace, but there are the other kinds. We want to keep these freedoms. We may have to fight again, God forbid. But if we do, let's always fight to win. The fate of a loser is futile. It's fair. No love, no peace. Just misery and despair. Face the flag, son. And thank God it's still there.