A republic prevents assassination attempts, democracy invites it
Only one inch may have been the difference between a historical moment and a civil war.
As the world is well aware, on July 13th, an assassin attempted to kill former president Donald Trump at a presidential campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Speculation abounds regarding the details of the shooter. What is certain, is the devoted followers of Donald Trump, not all but some, would have responded in some fashion to the slaying of their leader.
Looking at all actors involved, it is easy to determine the deranged mentality of the shooter combined with the incompetence of the Secret Service for failing to protect the candidate. Some may even draw on Trump’s often outrageous persona as a magnet to violence. Then of course conspiracies abound of others involved or even Trump staged the event to gain votes.
Regardless of the truth, there is a larger discussion about our democracy that is not addressed. Democracy tempts the assassin.
With only two candidates in our presidential elections, there’s an incentive for the unhinged to single-handedly change the results. This motivation is not limited to the mentally broken as foreign operatives may wish to swap out a country’s potential candidates or simply sow chaos. All it takes is a rifle, a few bullets, and the pull of a trigger to change the direction of a country.
This is the framework of democracy. In a democracy, everything is binary. Vote yes or no. In our presidential elections, you’re voting for either the Democratic or Republican candidate. In November, the only legitimate choices are Kamala Harris (Joe Biden at the time of the attempt) or Donald Trump. All electoral weight is concentrated on these two candidates.
In a republic, however, the motives for assassination are less enticing. Under the republican model of forming government, in this case, choosing the president, the number of candidates could be thousands.* Voters would choose electors, who would then form a body of electors, to then choose the president.
In the United States, there already exist electors in each state. In their current state, they perform no real function other than affirming their state’s choice for one of two candidates. In a republican mode, these electors could perform an actual function by deliberating to choose the president.
In this method, who does the disturbed incel focus their scope on when there are hundreds of electors? Who does the terrorist hit squad target with so many electors spread across the entire country? The republican system is decentralized and prevents wickedness from interfering.†
Democracy tempts the assassin.
Political stability is far too important for Americans, as well as the rest of the world, for a few bullets to unravel. Let’s not leave our way of life up to the chance of a single inch between a partisan election and a partisan conflict.
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*There are currently 538 electors meaning the potential candidates to become an elector could be thousands depending on how many parties could win electoral votes.
†This discussion only applies to the election. Once a president is elected, the incentives for assassination will apply.
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Dustin Taylor is a political scientist and author of the book On the Framers’ Method: How the Electoral College and the Hamilton Method Can Defeat Populism and Tyranny. You can find more of his work at framersmethod.com
