With legislators of the Democratic Party fleeing Wisconsin and Indiana and protesters swarming the capitol at Columbus, Ohio, it won’t be long before Americans start asking whether President Obama is prepared to honor what is known as the guarantee clause. This is the fourth section of Article Four of the United States Constitution. It requires that the United States guarantee to each state a republican form of government. It is not a reference to the Republican Party, which didn’t exist at the time the Constitution was written, but rather to the form of government that interposes elected representatives to pass legislation.