Kerby Anderson

Yesterday I talked about democracy and our republic by examining the principles set forth in Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Today I would like to examine a recent tweet by President Biden about democracy.

“Democracy is more than a form of government,” he wrote. “It’s a way of being. A way of seeing the world. A way that defines who we are, what we believe, and why we do what we do.”

In a recent Breakpoint commentary, John Stonestreet concludes that “democracy isn’t a worldview.” He is correct. For nearly a half-century, I have been teaching students and adults that a worldview is “a way of seeing the world.” Yes, it defines who we are, what we believe.

Put simply, the president has it exactly backwards. Democracy (or a republic) doesn’t determine our view of the world. It is our view of the world that determines what form of government we establish. The framers of this country had a healthy fear of human beings and established a series of checks and balances in our government so that no one individual would have too much power and so that each branch of government would provide a political check on the other branch of government.

John Stonestreet reminds us that the framers did not want to give us a pure democracy. They gave us a republic while Benjamin Franklin warned “if you can keep it.” They feared a pure democracy because it wouldn’t protect minority rights. Remember the famous quote: “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.”

Our view of the world and our prior assumptions about law, rights, and human nature are what influence the system of government we establish and the kinds of laws and policies we develop. Our government is founded on the principle of God-given rights. Our government rests on the triplet: “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” These principles are compatible with a biblical worldview.