Paul Kengor: Our nonsensical voices of 'democracy'

One of the most annoying things in our impoverished public discourse — which has been degraded by all sides — are the howls from liberals about “democracy,” and especially that Donald Trump will “destroy democracy.” This battle cry has become a literal yard sign in 2024, with Harris/Walz supporters planting placards proclaiming simply, “DECENCY DEMOCRACY.”

I get the decency part. They feel Trump is crude, belligerent. Trump since 2015-16 certainly has shown his vulgarity abundantly.

But most annoying are the shouts, the screams that Trump is going to “DESTROY DEMOCRACY!!!” Most troubling about the charge is its emptiness, its vagueness. I’ve had exchanges with liberals about this, usually only via email because they get too emotional face to face. I attempt the dialogue by saying something like, “OK, I know you detest Donald Trump. I understand your concern about him threatening decency and demeaning civil discourse. But please tell me, specifically, how Trump will ‘destroy democracy.’ ”

What follows is a litany aimed at the person of Trump, often sprinkled with added incendiary descriptions like “fascist” and “Hitler.” I plead, however, for specifics. I want to know precisely how a reelected Trump would “destroy democracy.” Would he somehow unilaterally end First Amendment freedoms, such as speech, press, assembly? After a second and final term would he barricade himself in the Oval Office with the Marines, refusing to leave? Would he somehow cancel the November 2028 election once term-limited out of office? How so?

In these exchanges, I try to get my interlocutor to define “democracy,” so we can better ascertain how Trump will destroy it. That dialogue gets still worse when I explain that the United States of America is not a democracy.

Yes, that’s correct. As someone who has taught political science for three decades, perhaps I can add some light.

The United States of America is a representative republic, defined by Merriam Webster as a system in which “power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them.” More specifically, we’re a constitutional republic. That is, a nation with a Constitution that lays out our government structure, branches, division of powers, and splendid system of checks and balances. Those brilliant checks and balances prevent the chief executive from “destroying democracy.”

I suppose, because we have certain democratic values, we might be loosely labeled a representative democracy or a constitutional democracy, but what we are is a representative/constitutional republic.

Here’s a shocker for the “destroying democracy!” crowd: The U.S. Constitution doesn’t use the word “democracy” (or “democratic”) one time. That’s right. Check it out yourself. (Likewise, the word never appears in the Declaration of Independence.) By contrast, “representative” or “representation” appears 21 times. The Constitution uses this description: “The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.”

This surge among progressives describing us as a “democracy” is a further sign of civic illiteracy. We’re a republic, folks. To borrow from Ben Franklin, our Founders gave us a republic, if we can keep it.

Regardless of how one feels about Donald Trump, he cannot “destroy our democracy.” He’s conveniently accused of destroying the very thing that the nation is not.

When you encounter that nonsense, challenge it. The charge itself contributes to our declining discourse and decency.