The current debate about Obamacare provided a teachable moment on the nature of the political system in our country. No doubt you have heard many

people say that we have a democracy in this country. We do not have a democracy. We have a republic. That is what the Founding Fathers intended.

John Hayward wrote about an interchange between talk show host Al Sharpton and Representative Doug Collins. Their conversation took place as the

House was about to vote on a continuing resolution that would keep the government open but defund Obamacare.

Sharpton said: “What the people don’t understand, congressman, is how we pass laws the Supreme Court upholds and you guys come in and say, ‘Were

not going to fund it and even worse, if money goes there, we’ll shut the whole government down.’ We thought we lived in a democracy.”

Representative Collins replied, “Hey, Al, just a reminder, this isn’t a democracy. This is a republic.” That caused Reverend Sharpton to respond with the

following. “I really hope the people in the 9th District know in the next election they should not vote thinking this is a democracy. That Doug Collins says this is

not a democracy. I’ll even send you the clip so you can play it in your next campaign.”

For the record, Collins is right and Sharpton is wrong. I would hope most people would know this simply by saying the Pledge of Allegiance. We pledge

ourselves to the republic not the democracy.

By the way, if we did live in a democracy where the majority rules, we wouldn’t have Obamacare. A majority of Americans oppose it. And we might have lots

of others things. A majority of Americans support such things as prayer and Bible reading in the schools. A majority of Americans support a balanced budget. A

majority of Americans want to cut corporate welfare. A majority of Americans support lots of common sense restrictions on abortion. The list goes on and on.

I’m glad we live in a republic and not a democracy. But someone needs to send an email to Al Sharpton. He thinks we live in a democracy.