"A republic, if you can keep it" is a famous warning spoken by Benjamin Franklin at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
When asked by Elizabeth Willing Powel what form of government the delegates had created, Franklin replied that they had built a republic, if the people could maintain it.
Franklin's caution emphasizes that democratic republics are inherently fragile.
Their survival does not rely on a king, a ruling elite, or blind luck, but rather on the active, informed involvement of ordinary citizens."
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Ironically, it's the "Republicans" who have co-opted our People's democratic republic by kowtowing to Banking, Corporate, Elitist racist Authoritarian monied interests.
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"I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies" stems from a warning Thomas Jefferson wrote in an 1816 letter to John Taylor.
Context & Meaning - Jefferson feared that centralized financial institutions and long-term government debt (which he referred to as "funding") posed a more structural and quiet threat to republican liberty than military forces.
He believed private banks and corporations could control the money supply through inflation and deflation, ultimately concentrating wealth and power into the hands of a few and undermining the financial independence of everyday citizens."
And we was correct, sir.
The grift, greed, and corruption of the Trump administration continues ...