Thursday, August 15, 2019

America = the Principles of Individual Rights, not Democracy


In a letter-to-the-editor published in the New Jersey Star-Ledger on July 29, 2019, Gabriela Kaplan wrote, in part:

Be you Democrat, Independent or Republican (in alphabetical order), please come out to vote for the American dream and fulfillment of the American promise. Please remember that this country was founded on the principles of Democracy.

My italics. Since the Star-Ledger no longer publishes letters online, I posted Kaplan’s entire below. Meanwhile, I submitted the following letter on 7/29/19, which was subsequently published on August 5, 2019 under the title U.S founded on individual rights. Again the letter appears only in the print edition:

Dear editor;

A recent letter stated “this country was founded on the principles of Democracy” [‘Vote for American principles’, 7/29/19].” That's a dangerous myth. America was founded on the principles of inalienable individual rights, the purpose of which was, in large part, to shield our freedom from democracy.

The democratic process in our constitutionally limited republic should not be confused with democracy. The founding generation did not fight a risky, bloody Revolutionary War for Independence to secure the mere right to vote. Voting had been around for millennia, including in the colonies. They revolted to protect our individual rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness from all tyranny, not to switch subordination of our liberties from the mercy of a King to the whims of the vote. 

The “principles of Democracy” and the principles of a free society are not the same thing. As the Founders well understood, freedom is not the right to vote. Freedom is the right to live one’s life and pursue one’s chosen values regardless of the outcome of any election.

Sincerely,

Michael A. LaFerrara
54 Lazy Brook Road
Flemington, NJ 08822
908 782 1088

The only thing I wish I included is to add “, or the voters’ elected representatives” at the end of the second paragraph. That’s implicit, but should be explicit.

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FULL TEXT of Letter to the NJ Star-Ledger, 7/29/2019

Vote for American principles

Doonesbury, by Garry Trudeau, this past Sunday, painted a very dismal picture of the president. If his premise is true, we are destined to four more years of hate, racism, anti-Semitism and just plain poor leadership. I call on all American citizens to wake up and smell the coffee.

Be you Democrat, Independent or Republican (in alphabetical order), please come out to vote for the American dream and fulfillment of the American promise. Please remember that this country was founded on the principles of Democracy.

Let’s deliver the ultimate impeachment process; let’s not re-elect the current leader.

Gabriela Kaplan Elizabeth

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