II.   Sovereign

A Republic is a 16th Century legal term (falsely claimed of older provenance) describing an aristocratic form of government which derives all of its powers directly or indirectly from the consent of an elite intellectual body of members known as “the people” in which the executive power is lodged in certain offices to which qualified members are then chosen by the general population to represent the whole society, holding office for a limited period less than life.

The word Republic is derived from the 16th Century conjoining of the Latin words res meaning “interest, form, affairs, business, matter, wealth”, the Latin word pube(s) meaning “age of majority, young adult or adult population” and liceo meaning “to be for sale, to have a price / value”. Hence the literal and original etymology of republic is “community wealth” or simply “commonwealth”. Legally, the concept of the “commonwealth” and “Republic” are one (1) and the same.

While a Republic is by definition an aristocratic form of government, from the inception of “humanism” from the 16th Century it differs significantly from its main aristocratic rival being a monarchy:

(i) Consistent with humanist and “utopian” thought, a Republic is founded on Man as the centre of his own universe, both in terms of the function of perspective, mind, logic and via the rules of existence. This contrasts with the “Chain of Being” placing the monarch at the head by “Divine Rule”; and

(ii) Through the use of the tools and faculties of mind being reason, logic, scientific method and argument, mankind is capable of discovering virtually every answer to every problem and advance the knowledge of the world without relying on superstitious beliefs. Therefore natural sciences is the religion of a Republic in contrast to some form of Christianity being the state religion of a Western monarchy; and

(iii) Through the faculties and tools of collective mind and behaviour interaction such as rhetoric, politics, economics and ethics, mankind can work together to form common societies without the need to rely on ancient beliefs of religious law or custom. Thus “God” in a Republic is the accumulated natural and positive law as a living entity itself, whereas in a monarchy, “God” is a sentient being whose edicts are interpreted and executed through the monarch and the “church”; and

(iv) While people should be free to continue their beliefs in religious customs that espouse “life after death” and the existence of “supreme deities”, there is no definitive scientific evidence that Heaven exists, life after death exists and god exists. Therefore, the only certainty in life is that we are alive today and we will die one (1) day. Therefore, happiness and free will are to be encouraged, whereas the “keys of heaven” is the only guaranteed happiness through loyal obedience to the monarch and his / her church; and

(v) Despite all men being “created” equal, through an absence of intellect and skill, mankind self selects into classes of “men of intellect” and “creatures”. In contrast, the monarch and the church ordain such concepts of “slavery at birth” to be a “Divine Right”.

Contrary to deliberate mistranslation, neither the Greeks nor the Romans used the word “Republic” in any of their texts. The word used by Plato was politeia (πολιτεία) meaning (amongst other things) “statecraft, political thought”. The equivalent word in Latin was prudentia meaning “statecraft, political knowledge, discresion (competence)”. Instead, all references to Republic are from 16th Century European texts and later.

The key features that distinguish a Republican form of government from different forms of society are Intellectual Class, Utopian Model, Classic Romanticism, Rule of Law, Fascist Imperialism and Democratic Elections:

(i) A Republic form depends upon the existence of some organized Intellectual Class either in exile or domestic capable of constructing the necessary laws, plans, and strategy to acquire power required for achieving government; and

(ii) The existence of a Utopian Model is a fundamental feature that distinguishes a Republic form of governance whereby the Intellectual Class seeks to measure existing society and decisions against a perceived “utopian ideal” also sometimes expressed as a “philosophy” not merely prudence; and

(iii) Classic Romanticism is a distinguishing philosophical feature of a Republic whereby the Intellectual Class seeks to increasingly reinvent Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, culture and architecture as a demonstration of a “Utopian Ideal”; and

(iv) Rule of Law is a unique and core feature associated with the invention of the Republic model whereby the “law is king” rather than the will of the monarch and that all decisions of government are made by applying published and known legal principles; and

(v) Fascist Imperialism, or simply “fascism” is a distinct political and philosophical feature of power, culture and propaganda of a Republic whereby the Intellectual Class once in power apply their “Utopian Model” through Classic Romanticism in an increasingly intolerant manner to change, to minorities, to competing cultures and to history that does not fit the “confected reality”; and

(vi) Democratic Elections, also known simply as Democracy is when an eligible number of electors are permitted to participate in the election of certain officers to government, whether or not the vote and its account is free or fair and regardless of whether the vote is the direct mechanism for choosing a new official.

A Republic form does not by definition require the exclusion of a royal head of state as in the case of a constitutional monarchy which demonstrates all the aspects of a Republic but with the monarch as symbolic head.

The first Republic as a model for the introduction of a “utopian model” was the formation of the Republic of the United States of Netherlands simply known as the United States in 1579:

(i) The first Republic in history was the Republiek der Verenigde Staten der Nederlanden (Republic of the United States of Netherlands), also simply known as the United States first formed by the Unie van Utrecht (Union of Utrecht) of 1579 of thirteen “Northern” states, duchies and dominions being Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe, Overijssel, Guelders, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Zeeland, Brabant, Brussels, Flanders and Hainaut followed by the Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (Act of Abjuration) of 1581. After Hainaut was lost, The Hague was raised as its own State and was called Staten-Generaal (States-General) as the Capital of the United States. The United States was finally officially recognized in the Peace of Westphalia (1648) signed at Neu Jerusalem, also known as Mönster (the copy of Jerusalem). The United States technically invaded and “occupied” England under William of Orange from 1689 to 1702. However, upon his death, the United States (of Netherlands) was claimed by Queen Anne as a dominion of Great Britain and implied as such within the Act of Union of 1706. With the imminent invasion of the United States by France expected by the end of 1794, King George III concluded a formal agreement in recognizing the United States of America by 1794 on condition that the aristocratic families of the United States of Netherlands were given safe passage, settlement and official recognition. The United States of America then sold the Island of Manhattan to the exiled Dutch families for a massive sum which was then used to commission the lavish construction of Washington DC and government infrastructure; and

(ii) The second Republic in history was from 1660 in England. Heavily influenced by the utopian novel of Sir Francis Bacon called New Atlantis (1624), an intellectual elite borne out of Oxford and later Cambridge formed a new society by early 1660 called the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, or simply “The Royal Society”. It is this group that brokered the return of King Charles II to the throne on the condition of recognizing a Republican form of government known as a constitutional monarchy. The Stuarts rejected the notion once back in power and the Royal Society was central in the second coup d'état and the treasonous invasion of England by William of Orange who confirmed the new compact as the Bill of Rights of 1688 and then later the Act of Settlement of 1701; and

(iii) Following the creation of the Republic known as the British Commonwealth and the British Empire from the beginning of the 18th Century, the third Republic was one designed more closely on the interpretation by the Intellectual Class of the Utopian Model of New Atlantis known as the United States of America towards the end of the 18th Century.  The exiled families of the United States (of Netherlands) staged a coup in the late 19th Century to overlay their old Republic claims over the United States of America through the creation of the central power of the District of Columbia and new Districts rather than "States"; and

(iv) The fourth Republic model introduced in history was the République Française (French Republic) through the Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen (Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen) in 1789; and

(v) The fifth Republic model introduced in history was the République d'Haïti (Republic of Haiti) by 1804 being the first indigenous Republic after the uprising of the population against colonial rule.