We Have a Republic, If We Can Keep It

It was an afternoon of ironies.

I took a few hours off and helped my daughter study for her poli-sci mid-term, which will cover the formation of the United States, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the philosophical precepts that underlie all this: John Locke’s notion of natural rights,  Rousseau’s social contract, etc.  I always enjoy teaching the concept of a “republic,” i.e., a form of government in which the country is considered a “public matter,” not the private concern or property of the rulers.

But it was during a break from our studies that I saw this article on the affinity that Mitt Romney enjoys with the oil companies, and how one of the oil industry’s top lobbyists is positioned to play a key role in a Romney administration, which reminded me of how strained the concept of a republic is here in the U.S.  Of course, I could have pointed out the funding from the pharmaceutical industry and Wall Street that elected Obama in the first place.

Until I told her this story about the Constitutional Convention of 1787, my daughter had not heard the oft-quoted conversation involving Benjamin Franklin on the subject.  These notes of Dr. James McHenry, one of Maryland’s delegates to the Convention, queried as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation, were first published in The American Historical Review in 1906:

A lady asked, “Well, Dr. Franklin, what have we got?  A republic or a monarchy?” Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”