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THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC
AND ITS RELEVANCY FOR THE 21
ST
CENTURY
E.L. Beck
November, 2008; revised July, 2011
“There is nothing left for Mankind but a Republic.” – Lord Byron
The Small “r” 
 
• e-mail: thesmallr@gmail.com  • website:The Small “r”on Scribd
 
Table of Contents
Introduction
1
Small-r republicanism Defined
10
Equality
11
Liberty
19
Sovereignty
21
Civic Engagement
25
Tyranny
31
Government’s Limits
35
Private Property
40
Independent Proprietors
43
The Rule of Law
47
Decentralized Systems
55
Disdain for Empire
58
Endnotes
62
The Small “r”: E.L. Beck 
The American Republici
 
"...and to the republic, for which it stands...."
How often we recited those words as school children and yet, to this day, many of us are unfamiliarwith the concept of a republic.So what, precisely, is a republic?
Introduction
Small-r republicanism, the framework over which the American founders constructed the Declaration ofIndependence and the U.S. Constitution, envisioned political and economic institutions serving the individ-ual, not the converse. It was the individual who possessed a conscience, who possessed dignity and most ofall, possessed the natural rights that are immutable and intrinsic to that individual, the foundational three being life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
A "republic" operates under republicanism, a political philosophy
and
a functioning framework forgovernment. In the early years of the United States, our government functioned as a democratic-republic.Today, the United States is merely a democracy. A democracy – on its own – provides a lesser experiencefor its citizens, as civic engagement is reduced largely to voting during elections. As F.A. Hayek framed it,"The periodical elections of representatives, to which the moral choice of the individual tends to be moreand more reduced, is not an occasion on which his moral values are tested” (
The Road to Serfdom
 , 1942,Chp. 14). Many of the ills besetting our country today stems from us being a mere democracy, rather thana fuller, richer, democratic-republic.But isn't democracy supposed to be a good thing?Yes, when coupled with a more expansive political framework, and that added framework was re-publicanism during the early years of our country. A democratic republic provides a fuller political expe-rience.In the Founding Era, a democracy carried a negative connotation for our founders:
"It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect gov-ernment. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this. The ancient democraciesin which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their
The Small “r”: E.L. Beck 
The American Republic1
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uploaded a new revision for this document (#3)

02 / 12 / 2010

uploaded a new revision for this document (#2)

12 / 03 / 2009
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