In his column “Founders viewed democracy as tyranny” (Jan. 31, TribLIVE), Walter Williams asserted that our Founding Fathers saw democracy as a form of tyranny. We use the word democracy routinely to describe our form of government. It’s understood that we live in a representative democracy; our elected representatives vote and advocate on our behalf in governmental processes.

This is in contrast to a pure democracy, in which laws and decisions are made in a direct vote. James Madison differentiates between the two in the Federalist Papers, No. 10. He contrasts the perils of pure democracy to advocating “a republic, by which I mean a scheme of representation takes place.” The word republic is used in the Constitution to describe a representative democracy.

Most of Williams’ column is based on the rejected notions of pure direct democracy. Good thing we are a republic with a representative democracy. Was he trying to mislead someone? He should also bone up on the Electoral College. I would take anything he writes with a grain of salt. Just sayin’.

Kenneth Nicholson

Hempfield

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