As we celebrate our nation’s birthday, it would be well for we Americans to reflect upon whether we have maintained the political philosophy the founders knew was essential to our continued independence.

Upon leaving the convention at which the Constitution was written, Benjamin Franklin reportedly was asked by a woman what type of government had been established. “A republic — if you can keep it,” Franklin replied.

Too many Americans consider ours to be a democratic form of government. Though it never was intended as such, events for several decades have taken it in that direction.

Pure democracies are governed by the will of the majority of the people — even if it infringes upon the rights of the minority.

Republics use the people’s elected representatives to make decisions — in the context of safeguards against minorities’ rights being taken away.

Even as we Americans insist we are defending minorities’ rights, we often bow to the voices of those who, spurred on by demagogues, demand we follow the dictates of the crowd. We call it political correctness. Too often, it means we crush liberties for what we insist is “the greater good.”

Our founders understood the folly of that. There is no “greater good” without liberty, they recognized.

Safeguards for individual freedom the founders built into our Constitution and Bill of Rights are under siege. Unless we defend them, they will be lost.

And so will our freedom as Americans.