posted on Oct, 22 2012 @ 03:35 AM
Re means thing as in reality is every thing.
Re public is the reality of the people, like Catholic means the only one or universal. At one time in Europe, Catholic and Christian were identical,
the catholic church was the only church.
Plato's Republic described a society controlled by an elite. The elite were composed from all children who passed each of a succession of tests.
Every child in the land was tested, so in a sense it was fair. It was not democratic as the elite made all of the decisions.
The Roman Republic was a representational goverment, except that in reality the rich were the only ones to have the means or free time to be goverment
officials. Until the decline of the Romen Empire after 200 AD the goverment was funded largely by the members of the goverment i.e. the personal
servants of the individuals in the government performed the services of government. One of the reasons for higher taxes after 200 AD was that
goverment officials were being payed by the government for the first time.
The Founding Fathers sought models and examples from the past, but often commented that the American government was something new, to be based on the
rule of law rather than divine selection or aquired authority.
The word Republic may have been a best fit choice rather than a precise definition, alluding to the power and virtue of the Roman Repulic, the longest
lasting non-monarchical goverment in history.
So our republic is the reality of the percieved need for government. Benjamin Franklin called our government a republic. The Constitution does not
call the government a republic.
I think republic means-- each person and the all of the government are subject equally to the law, and the people choose representatives to keep the
law relevant, minimal and easy to interpret and administer the smallest possible government.
In other words in a republic the law rules over everyone, including the current administration.