I'm sick and tired of democracy

What I'm sick and tired of is the bandying about of the word. Because here in the USA we do not live in a democracy. We live in a Constitutional Republic. There is a difference, and it is a significant one.

The big difference is this: the Constitution trumps the 'will of the People'. The Constitution has an amendment process, and every step of it takes supermajorities. And the most important part of the Constitution, to me anyway, the Bill of Rights, can't be amended out of existance.

It frustrates me to no end that, every time there's an opinion from the Supreme Court--or from a state Supreme Court ruling about that state's constitution--somebody starts blathering about the courts usurping 'democracy'. That the court 'took away the people's ability to decide.' Damn right. That's their job. I'll say it again: the constitution trumps the majority. Every time. You can argue a court's wisdom in applying that at times, but you can't argue their duty to do so.

I once got in an argument with someone about this, and I ended up asking her, "If we had to vote on the Bill of Rights, you think it would pass? I don't, not a big chunk of it. So, doesn't the Bill of Rights overrule democracy?"

The answer to that question is yes. It does. It's supposed to. You don't get to vote on whether or not we have religious freedom. The Founding Fathers, in the wisest move they ever made, pre-empted such fights.

So, the next time someone starts blathering about 'democracy', remind them that we don't live in one. Remind them that we have a constitution that trumps a majority vote. Maybe some of these knuckleheads will get it sooner or later.