As regular readers know, I have thoughts on the phrase “a republic, not a democracy” (indeed, it is the subject of my pending Consitution Day talk at Berry College in a couple of weeks). I often find the deployment of the phrase to be the result of misunderstanding about what the terms mean. Often it is some attempt to explain various elements of American government in a way that makes it all sound like the Framers really knew that, say, western expansion would not distort the significance of the two seats per state in the Senate. It’s all just the Grand Design of American Exceptionalism, dontcha know.
Other usages are attempts to justify things like the fact that the president might be elected by a minority of the population so they can appoint the Supreme Court by having the Justices confirmed by a chamber that was elected by a minority of the population. It’s not problematic! Nope! It’s because we are a republic. Or something.
Beyond all those attempts to ignore some clear design flaws in our constitutional order (or to ignore even how the Framers thought the EC, for example, would work) there are more insidious usages of the term “republic” that are cropping up.
To wit, an example from the Master of X.
On the one hand, this is absurd on a number of levels. On the other, Musk has a huge following. See, for example, GZero: Elon Musk and the Political Power of Young Men. Musk and his ilk are part of a reactionary far-right movement that appeals to disaffected males who long for a mythic past where their brute strength was all that mattered. And, of course, it just so happens that being strong makes one the freest of thinkers!
Cool how that works (and, of course, when I think of he-men, Musk immediately comes to mind!).
But I digress.
I wanted to note, the deployment of both “republic” and “democracy” in the oh-so-“interesting observation” highlighted by Musk.
Note that in both cases, the term refers to an exclusionary system of rule by a minority who gets to govern because of specific ascriptive characteristics. This is a government for males with a certain level of testosterone and physical prowess. And, it just so happens that such people are likely free-thinking and neurodivergent.
No pencil neck geeks or people with lady-parts need apply.
Side note: I must confess, I do not think “testosterone-soaked muscle-man” and “neurodivergent” as a Venn diagram that is just a solid circle. Certainly, this does not comport with the standard stereotypes. But I guess one’s mileage may vary. Although it may be that the author of this “theory” is finding a way to include the neurodivergent with the he-men, joined by their ability to see the “truth” (but wouldn’t that mean that the group who should really rule would be the neurodivergent bodybuilders, for they shall have high-T and Know What is True?).
But, I digress. (And yes, trying to make too much sense of the above is fool’s errand–or maybe my T is low. Hard to say for sure).
What I think is noteworthy, and concerning, is that Musk is suggesting here that minority government is a good idea (or, at least, “interesting”). Moreover, the notion he is floating equates a “republic” with minority rule by a specific class of person. And while it pays some lip service to “democracy” it is only democracy for that select set of persons.
Interestingly, this kind of reminds me of a character in Plato’s Republic, Thrasymachus, who always came across to me as a bit of a muscle-head (I never considered if he was neurodivergent or not). Thrasymachus argued that justice was simply “nothing other than the advantage of the stronger.”
Spoiler: that was the wrong answer.
Indeed, Plato’s notion of a republic was one where the philosophers ruled and did so in the public interest, not their own self-interest. And, I hasten to note, was not democratic at all.
At any rate, the usage shared by Musk of a “republic” is just an example of someone using a word that sounds appealing instead of just saying what it really means: a dictatorship that privileges a specific minority of the population over others.
A republic can absolutely be an authoritarian form of government. Indeed, it can be downright totalitarian.
On balance, some flavor of authoritarianism is usually what is meant when a lot of people deploy the term “republic”, even if they don’t want to fully admit it themselves.
To be sure, there are a lot of legitimate usages of the term. After all, the US is a republic. We have no monarch nor an aristocracy. But, luckily we also are a democracy (albeit a flawed one).
Another rather disturbing aspect of the sketch of government shared by Musk is that it eschews the idea of consensus, which is kind of central to real democracy, and suggests that some specific people know what is “true” and therefore should have to right to govern. Because, like a pack of animals, we should be ruled by the Alpha.
