Maybe because it is. Maybe because we ve passed this way before. And maybe because compassionate conservatives are confused about the difference between republics and democracies. A brief refresher course might help them. If we are a democracy, as our leader claims, and the majority desire compassionate conservatism, then we can go ahead, tax the people, redistribute the money back to their churches and nothing is lost because the majority rules, and that s all there is to it.
Legitimacy is established.
Let s step back. A democracy is strict majority rule, period. What the majority says is law. A republic is more complicated than that. A republic mixes modes of representation, it mixes a variety of interests, it throws in a multi-tiered legal system which requires local juries of our peers and fidelity to common law, it places definite limits on governmental powers, it separates those powers, it shares those powers, it believes in the rule of law, it makes it extremely difficult to change constitutional laws, and it bows before fixed or higher laws, including, the laws of God, the laws of nature, and the settled lessons of history.