Democracy = Majority Rule = Tyranny

April 18, 1:25 AMColumbia Conservative ExaminerAnthony G. Martin

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Suppose that the entirety of our society, from top to bottom, from the federal government to local government, was run according to 'majority rule,' which is commonly known as 'democracy.'

I can state unequivocally that such a move would be the single largest disaster to be perpetrated on the human race since the Holocaust.

If someone could get a majority at the local level, for example, to vote to prevent all blond, blue-eyed females from driving autos, then I hate to break it to ya, Blondie, but you'd be up the creek without a paddle.  If the majority could vote 'no African Americans allowed' on local golf courses, then hello again to government approved racial discrimination.

Our form of government is clearly NOT based upon 'majority rule,' and for good reason.

Majority rule can be a good thing or it can be tyrannical and dangerous, depending on whether or not a group is successful at getting a simple majority to vote for something, such as killing off terminally ill elderly patients in nursing homes because their care 'costs too much.'

As nationally-acclaimed economist Walter E. Williams of George Mason University states,

          Democracy and majority rule give an aura of legitimacy to acts that would  otherwise be deemed tyranny. Think about it. How many decisions in our day-to-day lives would we like to be made through majority rule or the democratic process? How about the decision whether you should watch a football game on television or "Law and Order"? What about whether you drive a Chevrolet or a Ford, or whether your Easter dinner is turkey or ham? Were such decisions made in the political arena, most of us would deem it tyranny. Why isn't it also tyranny for the democratic process to mandate what type of light bulbs we use, how many gallons of water to flush toilets or whether money should be taken out of our paycheck for retirement?

            The founders of our nation held a deep abhorrence for democracy and majority rule. In Federalist Paper No. 10, James Madison wrote, "Measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority." John Adams predicted, "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." Our founders intended for us to have a republican form of limited government where the protection of individual God-given rights was the primary job of government.

We have a republican form of government guided by a Constitution that exists solely to protect the liberties of the citizens no matter what the majority wants.  The Framers of the Constitution put in place numerous safeguards that protect the minority on any given issue. 

Why?  The answer is simple.  A simple majority can vote to run roughshod over the rights and liberties of throngs of citizens.  Checks and balances, therefore, were put into place to prevent this from happening.

Yet many Americans today are woefully unaware of these vital truths.  And therein lies our problem.  Once again, Dr. Williams states:

In addition to an abhorrence of democracy, and the recognition that government posed the gravest threat to liberty, our founders harbored a deep distrust and suspicion of Congress. This suspicion and distrust is exemplified by the phraseology used throughout the Constitution, particularly our Bill of Rights, containing phrases such as Congress shall not: abridge, infringe, deny, disparage or violate. Today's Americans think Congress has the constitutional authority to do anything upon which they can get a majority vote. We think whether a particular measure is a good idea or bad idea should determine passage as opposed to whether that measure lies within the enumerated powers granted Congress by the Constitution. Unfortunately, for the future of our nation, Congress has successfully exploited American constitutional ignorance or contempt.

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For more stimulating commentary, please visit my blog, updated daily, at The Liberty Sphere.