In her recent commentary “So these are our best presidential choices, huh?” Community Columnist Amy Dehn wrote, “This country was founded and based on the principle of democracy, and we have not wavered in the institution.” But when I search our nation’s founding documents, I see no mention of democracy in either the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution.

Here is what some of the founders said about democracy:

“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51 percent of the people may take away the rights of the other 49 percent.” (Thomas Jefferson)

“Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.” (Benjamin Franklin)


“Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy that did not commit suicide.” (John Adams)

After signing the Constitution, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin what kind of government the founders had created. He replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

A republic is representative government ruled by law; it protects individual rights. A democracy is government ruled by the majority; it is concerned only with what the group wants. Because democracies do not protect the rights of the individual, the Constitution states, “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.”

So, why does Dehn mistakenly believe that this country was founded and based on the principle of democracy? Was she misled in school, or by the media, or both?

Brian Farmer,


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