Two Mikes - Gone is the Republic with Paul Engel

Today, the Two Mikes spoke with one of our colleagues from America Out loud Radio, Mr. Paul Engel. Mr. Engel is a constitutional scholar and hosts a very popular podcast called “The Constitutional Study” on the network. Mr. Engel has joined us several times previously and never fails to give us unexpected insights into a document that’s more spoken of than either read or understood. Mr. Engel spoke very bluntly when explaining that we are at a point in our nation’s history from which the recovery of the republican form of government America’s Founders created is a longshot. Indeed, the current status of the country’s deformed, superficial, and close-to-useless educational system may well prevent any chance of restoring republicanism. Until U.S. constitutional scholars, pertinent educators – such as grammar and high school teachers of history and politics, as well as university historians, philosophers, political scientists, law professors, and other academics from lines of study associated with the Constitution -- drop their ridiculous focus on the so-called vital importance of democracy and refocus on the Constitution itself and not merely the decisions of the Supreme and other courts, the Founder’s creation is headed toward disaster, and that disaster is named tyranny. In a recent essay by Bradley J. Birzer, the author argued that “One of the most frustrating aspects of modern times is its insane and dangerous sanction of democracy. The word itself has become something sacred or so pervasively employed that it means next to nothing, though it also has become a god-term meaning everything to everyone. Again, as such, it means nothing and everything. … Again, we were created as a republic and not a democracy. To say otherwise is not historically accurate but philosophically unwise. The worlds republic and democracy are not interchangeable. At best, a democracy fits into a republic, but a republic never fits into a democracy.” (1) It is worth noting of course, that the Founders confidently and correctly argued that democracy has historically proven to be the last bus stop on the road to tyrannical government. Americans need to look no further than the current state of our fading republic, where the politicians in both parties crusade for ever more “democracy”, which has had the clear – if unstated or disguised – negative impact on government activities of all kinds. For example, an enormous national debt built on politicians’ rabid eagerness to garner votes and maintain power on the basis of providing “democratic equity” for all Americans. This has worked for the politicians but has nearly killed our republic. In addition, Democracies, per the above-mentioned author, Mr. Bizer, “always and everywhere – from Athens to America – serve as an impetus to imperialism. If the rule of the majority is to rule at home, why not enforce such rule the world over.” (2) This seems a hard truth to dodge given the experience of the United States with unending imperialism and its accompanying failed wars since 1945. The current disastrous presidentially declared war with Iran suggests strongly that a democratic government has not the commonsense or gumption to sue its sole constitutional power to declare war and thereby prevent the president from being an all- powerful War Lord in the international sphere. Paul Engel’s podcast is on the America Out Loud Radio Network. It is called “The Constitutional Study” and can be heard live Weekdays at 4 pm ET, and via Podcast the Next Day. He can be found on X at Mr.Engel can be found on X at @cyberengel Footnotes --1.) Bradley J. Birzer, “A Republic, Not a Democracy,” The Imaginative Conservative, 15 March 2026 birzer.html -2.) Ibid. SPONSORS Our Gold Guy:

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Two Mikes - Gone is the Republic with Paul Engel is an episode from Network Radio Podcast by Network Radio.

This episode is 00:42:11 long.

This episode was published on Apr 25, 2026.

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