Happy Fourth of July

 - by New Deal democrat

Enjoy Independence Day!  Regular economic blogging will resume tomorrow.

The American Revolution is a reminder that, just because a county is a representative democracy, it can't behave like a total d*ck towards a minority subject to its jurisdiction.

What separates representative democracies from tyrannies is not that they won't do horrible things, or that things won't go horribly wrong, but that at least as to their citizens who have the right to vote, when they do a nonviolent remedy is built into the foundation law.  That's why tyrannies are internally popular during good times, but fail during hard times, while republics can endure. Had the Parliament of the UK granted full voting rights and representation to its American colonies, we might all be British!  Or maybe Canadians. ;-)

238 years ago, the Founders decided to see if a modern Republic, grounded on the principles of the Enlightenment, could successfully overcome the flaws that had brought down its ancient predecessors.  The experiment is still in progress.