America as a Commercial Republic

Few people in America can come to terms with the fact that our nation is not a democratic one – or a democracy; but it is, in fact, a republic, as James Madison reminds us in the Federalist Papers. Interestingly, Madison used the term “commercial republic.”
by Charlie Leck

A Commercial Republic?
Indeed! That’s what Madison called it. What, in heaven’s name, did he mean? There has been great debate about it over the decades and centuries. Clearly, these founding fathers envisioned a system that would provide opportunities for its citizens to achieve, in addition to liberty, security and prosperity (wealth).

Alexander Hamilton’s vision was of a nation whose conditions would allow citizens to achieve commercial success. He felt that the people, realizing those possibilities, would develop virtuous habits. His dream was that citizens would be extremely law abiding under such a system of capitalism. Hmm! What?

David Brooks, in a 2009 column in the NY Times, says that the U.S. “was born as a commercial republic.” The nation, he argues, was built upon “the spirit of commercial optimism.”

Madison and Hamilton were a bit optimistic. They did not foresee the U.S. Supreme Court decision often referred to as Citizens United. They could not imagine that institutions would be defined as citizens – that corporations would be given the rights of citizenship.

Power has shifted in America. It has shifted away from the individual to the corporation. It has shifted away from the common man to the wealthy man. Read here what Thomas Magstadt has to say about the corruption of the system that Jay, Madison and Hamilton envisioned. I quote a couple of paragraphs below.

“The growing wealth gap, the power of television to shape public perceptions of reality, and the unrestricted flow of private funds into political campaigns combine to transform Madison’s 'commercial republic' into a republic so corrupted by billionaire bankers, hedge fund managers, venture capitalists, and casino moguls that voters can expect no honesty, truth, or even serious discourse from the politicians who run for office. Under such circumstances elections are a farce.

“How did we get to this impasse?  There’s no simple answer, but the Reagan Revolution that eulogized the 'free' market and deregulated business and banking while cutting taxes and pursuing a costly futuristic 'Star War' military fantasy played a big role in radically changing the distribution of wealth and power in this country.  The Bush tax cuts finished what Reagan started.  Since the early 1980s, the rich have gotten fabulously richer while the middle class has gone sideways or backwards.  But even this widening wealth gap that now defines and drives the US economy doesn’t explain what’s happened to the political system.

“The fact that wealth easily translates into political power is nothing new.   But it’s never been so easy as it is now.  In 2010 five judges sitting on the United States Supreme Court opened the floodgates, ruling that any amount of private money spent to influence the outcome of public elections counts as a form of free speech protected under the First Amendment.  According to the reasoning of the five 'deciders' in the Citizens United case, campaign finance reform aimed at protecting or restoring the integrity of elections is therefore unconstitutional! 

“In other words, in the opinion of these five judges freedom of political expression is essentially a function of wealth.  The richer you are, the more freedom you have to amplify your voice.  In this novel interpretation, the voice of the poor is inaudible, while the voice of the middle class is heard, if at all, only as a kind of muffled background noise largely unintelligible to anyone who fails to tune into FOX News regularly.”

Read the rest of this intriguing article in Nation of Change… it’s a remarkable argument for what has happened to corrupt the American republic – to diminish the possibilities that the common man can participate in the march toward wealth and security.

“Elections are a farce!” That’s strong; perhaps it’s over-stated. Yet, we are, with certainty, moving toward such an America unless the will of the people can overcome it, root it out, destroy it with legislation and constitutional amendment.

There is no argument against the accumulation of wealth. That is what the concept of the commercial republic envisioned. The argument is against such wealth anointing its holders with greater power than other citizens who are still in progress within the commercial republic. To put such exclusive power in the hands of the wealthy, corporations and political organizations is to destroy the very vision Hamilton had for America – an America where the common man could achieve “prosperity and security.”

The man on the street – the common man – is not going to understand that this is what the current election is about; but that does not make it less true.

Hamilton and Madison did not foresee the day when elections would be controlled by corporations and individuals that have accumulated such massive wealth and power. They had no way to foresee the immense power of the media and advertising – and how media and advertising would be available only to those who could afford to pay for it.

The process the founding fathers foresaw has been corrupted by its own vast and unimagined success.

To repeat what the essence of the Nation of Change article says…

“The fact that wealth easily translates into political power is nothing new.   But it’s never been so easy as it is now.  In 2010 five judges sitting on the United States Supreme Court opened the floodgates, ruling that any amount of private money spent to influence the outcome of public elections counts as a form of free speech protected under the First Amendment.  According to the reasoning of the five 'deciders' in the Citizens United case, campaign finance reform aimed at protecting or restoring the integrity of elections is therefore unconstitutional! 

This stuff is brutal to read and none of us wants to believe it. We can’t imagine that elections are being taken away from the people or that the system as our founders imagined it is no longer working. Can five Supreme Court justices do that? They did!

“So on the eve of another presidential election let’s be crystal clear about what’s happened to the republic it took us so long to build.  It is being utterly corrupted and debilitated by massive injections of big-money 'heroine' directly into the veins of the body politic.  So long as millionaire politicians can turn to billionaire bankers and oil barons for carloads of cash they need to stay in office, so long as the dirty dance of collusion, bribery, and legalized corruption continues to decide the fate of the nation, elections will be meaningless.  And this republic cannot stand against the most basic test of legitimacy.” [Thomas Magstadt]

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