When Ben Franklin was asked at the conclusion of the constitutional convention in 1787, "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a Republic or a Monarchy?", Franklin replied, "A Republic, if you can keep it."
Pointedly, he did not say, "A DEMOCRACY, if you can keep it," the question being what the difference is between the two. The answer is that a democracy is simply majority (mob) rule, whereas a republic (via the Bill of Rights in our case) renders certain rights sacrosanct and thus not subject to the vote — e.g., freedom of association, freedom of speech, self-defense (the right to bear arms), privacy (security of one's property from search and seizure), etc. — leaving relatively little subject to the vote and thus relatively little for the federal government to actually DO.
Limited government, in other words.
Thus is it clear, living as we do under the thumb of a now CENTRAL government that knows no bounds and accordingly seeks control over virtually every facet of our lives, that the republic our forebears created, WASN'T KEPT.
Most egregiously, the central government has effectively stolen the money upon which a free society depends — http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-money-and-state — which is why the cryptocurrency revolution is so vital to the health and wellbeing of human society and why Steemit stands to be such a vital component of it.
To say that I am excited about Steemit is thus an understatement, and, as with a rapidly growing number of others, I will do all I can to assure its success.