Let's get over this "democratically elected" claptrap in governance

By Rob Janicki

Let's get over this "democratically elected", thus legal and legitimate, label being applied to Mohamed Morsi as titular head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.  Just because any election is conducted along the principles engendered in a "democratic election" does not mean or even imply that those elected individuals have unrestrained power to rule just because a majority of voters cast ballots in their favor.

History is replete with "democratically elected" dictators, the most notable being Adolph Hitler in Germany.  Just because someone is "democratically elected" does not mean they have a moral mandate to lead.  It is an artificial construction and legal term of art and nothing more.  Someone elected by a majority of legally registered voters still must lead within the rule of law.  Morci overstepped those constitutional bounds and, in essence, forfeited his right to lead as mandated by the Egyptian Constitution.

South America and Africa have numerous dictators that were "democratically elected" and are as immoral as can be.  So please spare me when liberal progressives say Morsi was "democratically elected".  Morsi, upon his inauguration, ignored, perverted and usurped the Egyptian Constitution through Executive Orders.  Does that sound familiar to anyone in America?  It should, since that's what Obama has been consistently doing since January 2009.

Meanwhile, the American courts have been infiltrated by liberal progressives, who decide with rulings  based upon their ideology, rather than the rule of law based on stare decisis.

Congress has become almost ineffectual in their Constitutional mandate of oversight of the Executive Branch.  Thus we have a president who believes he can do anything through Executive Orders that would otherwise be challenged by the courts or blocked by Congress.

Never forget that America is a constitutional republic first and foremost.  What does that mean?  It means that government is constrained by the rule of law emanating from the supreme law of the land, the Constitution.  A constitutional republic's premise for existence is to protect minorities from the potential oppression and tyranny of the majority.  We use majority rule in elections to determine leadership that must operate and function within the rule of law.  When leadership fails to rule within their constitutional mandate, they are outside the law and have thus violated their right to rule.

Morsi violated his right to rule Egypt as its president and needed to be removed by whatever extralegal means possible.  Egypt now needs to convene a new constitutional convention to rewrite its constitution to solidly protect all the minorities within Egypt.  Once that constitution is written with all its protections in place for all minorities in Egypt, a new representative election needs to be held.  The United States needs to encourage a republican form of government in Egypt to protect minorities, rather than standing on some supposed principle of democracy, which is virtually meaningless in the real world.