'A republic' definitely is worth keeping

Asked what the delegates to the Constitutional Convention had finally wrought, America's singular philosopher, Benjamin Franklin, replied famously, "A republic, if you can keep it."

For those who have forgotten their ninth-grade civics: Small r republicanism describes a form of government in which voters select their representatives; said representatives are then expected to make decisions based on their experience, education, wisdom and desires of those they were chosen to represent.

From time to time, Americans need to be reminded of the founders' wisdom in this matter, particularly on those occasions when we slip toward the notion that we (a) live in a democracy or (b) would be better served if we could democratize ever more aspects of our societal intercourse.

The former is a romanticized fallacy; the latter a depravity. Pure democracy embraces the mob passions of the moment; republicanism encourages the cooling of ardor, leavened by respect for minority opinions. Benjamin Rush, a Pennsylvanian, signer of the Declaration of Independence and the man credited with refurbishing the friendship between our second and third presidents - John Adams and Thomas Jefferson - said, "A simple democracy ... is one of the greatest of evils."

Turbulence and contention

This cold-eyed assessment, delivered even as those who would set the new nation's course were evaluating, or reviewing, their choices, will become increasingly useful to Florida's voters - Pasco County's especially - as this year wears on toward November and Election Day.

Chief among the issues we will be asked to resolve: How decisions about changes to local land-use plans are made. The initiative would fundamentally alter the relationship among elected officials, amendment-seekers and their opponents. It arrives bearing a name that manages to sound noble while openly brandishing its potential for disaster: "Hometown Democracy."

James Madison, a principal author of the U.S. Constitution, several of the Federalist Papers and a president himself, said in 1787, "Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."

It's up to the voters

We may yet witness the worst of Mr. Madison's observations on democracy, especially if opponents of the proposition, Amendment 4, cannot muster more than 40 percent of voters to keep it out of the Florida Constitution. If it does pass, we certainly are likely to see Madison's other characterizations - assaults on personal security and rights of property owners - on relentless parade.

Whether this troubles Pasco's noisy foes of growth (whatever they call themselves) remains to be seen. The bet here is: not so much.

The economy-killing experiences of St. Pete Beach are Amendment 4 writ small: As of 2006, changes to the city's land-use code must be approved by voters. Because entrepreneurs cannot get the sort of timely responses necessary to do business, and also because the nuances of land-use changes rarely can be encapsulated in ballot language, important redevelopment of the St. Pete Beach strand has been stymied, with alarming trickle-down effects for local businesses, merchants and the tax base.

Meanwhile, the costs of defending lawsuits - a ramification of current land-use law that supporters of Amendment 4 said would go away - have skyrocketed. Paying for them forced city leaders to increase the millage rate.

Moreover, living with an Amendment 4-style ordinance puts St. Pete Beach at a competitive disadvantage with every other waterfront municipality in the state. Passing Amendment 4 would almost certainly disadvantage all of Florida.

It's a romantic but foolish notion: Citizen land-use experts, keenly attuned to the details of proposed land-use alterations, rendering coolly considered judgments on a ballot a dozen - maybe two dozen - pages long, once every year or two. Meanwhile, opportunities unforeseen when the original document was drafted - opportunities that could be seized with a tweak here or a nudge there - go wasting.

Here we bow to the judgment of John Adams, the indispensible founder: "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."

Is it necessary that Florida become a 21st century demonstration project to prove the superiority of small r republicanism?