This video clip from the documentary video “Overview of America” describes the major types of systems of government that exist in the world— being “monarchy” meaning rule by one, “oligarchy” meaning rule by a few, “democracy” meaning rule by a majority, “republic” meaning rule by law, and “anarchy” meaning rule by none.  The the United States was designed to be a “republic” by the Framers of the Constitution, and this video explains why that system is preferable to the others.

Following are key points in the video clip:

[Note: September 17, 2022— Typos in the text of this article have been fixed.]

— When the Founding Fathers declared independence from the British, they stated that the rights of men are given to them by God— including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness— and that government should be instituted in order to secure those rights.

— It is explained that the Founders designed the U.S. government to be a “negative force” that leaves people alone, with its sole function being to protect citizens from one another, foreign governments, and from the government itself— where it was not designed to be a “positive force” that does things “for” people by taking from one person to give to another which in the process gives the government control over both people.  [Editor’s note: Updated September 17, 2022— Some forms of social programs can be helpful, and they are a reality of the current political system in the United States.  It would usually not be beneficial and in some cases it would be disastrous to abruptly halt government assistance that people have become acclimated to.]

— When the Revolutionary War had been won in 1783, the governing power of the U.S. states was weak where it did not have power to settle disputes or tax for proper needs such as national defense, so in 1787 delegates from twelve of the thirteen states met in Philadelphia to revise the system, where they created an entirely new structure known as the Constitution of the United States.

— The Constitution was written to govern the government, not the people or the States— with each of the states assumed to be a “jealous guardian” of its own sovereignty.  The Founders created a central government that strictly limited powers that left the states free to compete with one another to be the “best” state in offering the least amount of taxation and control over its people.

— In an effort to persuade Americans to adopt the new system of government, essays by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay were collected into a body known as The Federalist Papers.

— The first ten amendments to the Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights, which should actually be known as the “Bill of Limitations on Government,” because they never gave citizens any rights but rather limited the government’s power in order to safeguard the God-given rights of the citizens.  The Founders insisted that Congress shall make no law about speech, religion, the press, the right to assembly, the right to petition, or the right to bear arms— all of which are directed at the government rather than the individuals and the states.  The amendments of the Bill of Rights all start with the phrase “Congress shall not..,” except for the tenth Amendment that essentialy says, “If we forgot anything, Congress can’t do that either.”

— Many people think that the system of government in the U.S. is a “democracy,” however it is actually a “republic,” and knowing the difference between those types of governments is essential to understanding the American system.

— Many people have misconceptions about how to “categorize” the varying types of governments.  For example, many people assume that Communism is on the “far left,” Fascism and dictators are on the “far right,” and moderate systems such as in the U.S. are in the “center.”  However, the truth is that Fascism is also on the “far left” of the spectrum rather than the “far right.”  A more accurate representation of the spectrum would show government having zero power at the far right and having 100% power at the far left (with Communism, Socialism, Nazism, Fascism, dictators, Kings, ect.. being “far left.”)  The middle of the graph is represented by systems such as the United States constitutional government that protects the rights of its people, known as being a Constitutional Moderate system.

— The basic forms of government are: monarchy which is a dictatorship ruled by one, oligarchy which is rule by a few, democracy which is rule by majority, republic which is rule by law, and anarchy which is rule by nobody.  Following are points made about each form of government:



— Many people would be surprised to know that the word “democracy” does not appear in the Declaration of Independence or in the U.S. Constitution, nor does it appear in any of the Constitutions of the 50 States, and in fact the founders did everything they could to keep the United States from being a “democracy.”  James Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers: “... democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights or property, and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”

— Alexander Hamilton Stated, “We are a republican government.  Real liberty is never found in despotism or in the extremes of democracy.”

— Samuel Adams stated: “Democracy never lasts long.  It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.”

— The Founding Fathers had good reason to think of democracy with contempt, due to their knowledge of the history of democracy in the early Greek city-states which produced some of the wildest excesses of government imaginable— in every case ending up with mob rule leading to anarchy and finally tyranny under an oligarchy.  During that period in Greece, a man named Solan urged for the creation of a fixed body of laws that were not subject to majority whims, however the Greeks never adopted his ideas.

— The Romans did adopt Solan’s ideas, and they created the twelve tables of the Roman Law and built a Republic that limited government power and left the people alone.  Since government was limited, the people were free to produce with the understanding that they could keep the fruits of their labor, and in time Rome became very wealthy.

— Eventually the people of Rome forgot that the essence of freedom is the proper limitation of government and that when government power grows, people’s freedom recedes.  Power-seeking politicians began to exceed the powers granted them in the Roman Constitution, such as by using government power to take property from some and give it to others through agriculture subsidies, followed by housing and welfare programs.  As government power continued to expand, the private sector was increasingly taxed which led to productivity declining and shortages developing, followed by mobs of people roaming the streets demanding bread and services from the government, which induced many to trade freedom for security.  Eventually the whole system came crashing down, where Rome went from a republic to a democracy to an oligarchy ruled under a progression of the Caesars.

— Benjamin Franklin once said, “We can keep a republic, or we will eventually end up with an oligarchy— a tyranny of the elite.”


This video is a part of the article: A Summary of the Documentary Video “Overview of America”.