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Chad O. Jackson argued that the American republican system can be weakened when powerful institutions and experts manipulate public opinion to expand government authority.

Jackson began by drawing a distinction between a republic and other forms of government, saying citizens in a republic have a greater role because they can vote and influence political leadership.

“We live in a republic. A lot of people call it a democracy, but it’s a republic,” Jackson said.

He contrasted that system with monarchies and dictatorships, where he said elites have traditionally exercised greater direct influence over government.

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“The interesting thing about a republic is, unlike a monarchy or a dictatorship, where you have your oligarchs inside of your dictatorship, and you have your nobility inside of a monarchal government,” Jackson said.

“The oligarchy and the nobility have the most influence over the leadership in terms of pushing the nation or the kingdom in the way that they want it to go.”

Jackson said ordinary citizens have less influence under those systems.

“In a dictatorship, the subjects don’t really have much say in the matter. In a monarchy, the subjects don’t have as much say in the matter,” Jackson said.

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He acknowledged that rebellions and uprisings can occur under such governments but said public opinion plays a more formal role in a republic.

“Sure you can have insurrections and rebellions and things of this nature, but as far as the government framework, the public opinion is not as considered as it is in a republic where everybody can cast a vote,” Jackson said.

He said politicians in a republic must appeal directly to voters in order to gain office.

“Politicians are made to campaign and convince you why you should vote for them, and so on and so forth,” Jackson said.

Jackson said that arrangement appears attractive in theory.

“So on paper, it sounds good. It sounds like the republic should be the most desired form of government,” he said.

But Jackson argued that elites do not disappear simply because a country adopts a republican system. Instead, he said, they change roles and institutions.

“The problem is that the oligarchy or the nobility don’t go away,” Jackson said.

“They just kind of rebrand themselves into the bureaucracy.”

He said that influence also extends into academia and professional institutions.

“They rebrand themselves into professors, into the expert class, with the objective being to shape public opinion,” Jackson said.

Jackson argued that because public opinion matters in a republic, political influence increasingly depends on shaping what citizens believe and how they respond to social disputes.

“Because now that we have to consider what the public say, how can we contort and manipulate public opinion in such a way that they are in the streets thinking that they’re marching for justice, thinking that they’re marching for equality, but all the marching results in is more legislation that expands the role of government, moving us closer and closer back into a dictatorship or to a monarchy,” Jackson said.

He argued that monarchy is no longer the likely destination for such a shift.

“It won’t be a monarchy because we’re long past the days of monarchs, so the only thing that we’re left with is a dictatorship,” Jackson said.

Jackson then focused on identity-based grievances, arguing that anger over race, sex, or other personal characteristics can be manipulated into demands for government intervention.

“The more that we feel that like, man, this person doesn’t like me because I’m Black, and that’s all it is, it’s because I’m Black, or it’s because I’m a woman, or it’s because I’m short, or whatever the case may be, to the extent that you are embittered through the manipulation of public opinion to believe that there must be a government solution to this problem that I’m told to be angry about, you’re losing your republic, and you’re marching headfirst into dictatorship,” Jackson said.

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Jackson’s argument centers on the idea that a republic can be weakened not only through direct attacks on elections or political institutions, but also through sustained efforts to influence public opinion in ways that encourage greater government control.

His warning is that citizens can believe they are demanding justice or equality while, in his view, supporting policies that steadily expand state power.

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