All of this can be true and still be preferable to a system where political leaders are unaccountable to the public.
It’s really thought provoking quote that reminds me why limited government and protection of minority rights are so important in a democracy.
I think just government in general is the issue at hand. Also democracy on its face is a farce idea that has been incepted into our brains as the best, least evil option, when in fact it is actually the greatest evil thats ever been perpetrated by human beings.
Voluntary consensual exchange and agreements with the ability to withdraw from said exchange and agreements is the ultimate solution.
In a democracy we instill the idea that a 51%majority should be allowed to force the other 49% into any situation whatsoever, and the other 49% are taught that they should allow themselves to be subject to the other 51% because this is the only way humans can interact is so completely wrong in so many different ways.
We go out into the world everyday and take the risk that our neighbors/other individuals we come across wont stab us in the neck. The idea that the only reason this doesnt occur (news flash it still does) is that there is a law against it from happening takes some of the greatest mental gymnastics ive ever seen.
I came across this excerpt from Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" today that I thought you would find interesting. He discusses the dangers of the tyranny of the majority in American democracy.
"When an individual or a party is wronged in the United States, to whom can he apply for redress?
If to public opinion, public opinion constitutes the majority; if to the legislature, it represents the majority, and implicitly obeys its injunctions; if to the executive power, it is appointed by the majority, and remains a passive tool in its hands; the public troops consist of the majority under arms; the jury is the majority invested with the right of hearing judicial cases; and in certain States even the judges are elected by the majority. However iniquitous or absurd the evil of which you complain may be, you must submit to it as well as you can.
The authority of a king is purely physical, and it controls the actions of the subject without subduing his private will; but the majority possesses a power which is physical and moral at the same time; it acts upon the will as well as upon the actions of men, and it represses not only all contest, but all controversy. I know no country in which there is so little true independence of mind and freedom of discussion as in America.”
I came across this excerpt from Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" today that I thought you would find interesting. He discusses the dangers of the tyranny of the majority in American democracy.
"When an individual or a party is wronged in the United States, to whom can he apply for redress?
If to public opinion, public opinion constitutes the majority; if to the legislature, it represents the majority, and implicitly obeys its injunctions; if to the executive power, it is appointed by the majority, and remains a passive tool in its hands; the public troops consist of the majority under arms; the jury is the majority invested with the right of hearing judicial cases; and in certain States even the judges are elected by the majority. However iniquitous or absurd the evil of which you complain may be, you must submit to it as well as you can.
The authority of a king is purely physical, and it controls the actions of the subject without subduing his private will; but the majority possesses a power which is physical and moral at the same time; it acts upon the will as well as upon the actions of men, and it represses not only all contest, but all controversy. I know no country in which there is so little true independence of mind and freedom of discussion as in America.”
I came across this excerpt from Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" today that I thought you would find interesting. He discusses the dangers of the tyranny of the majority in American democracy.
"When an individual or a party is wronged in the United States, to whom can he apply for redress?
If to public opinion, public opinion constitutes the majority; if to the legislature, it represents the majority, and implicitly obeys its injunctions; if to the executive power, it is appointed by the majority, and remains a passive tool in its hands; the public troops consist of the majority under arms; the jury is the majority invested with the right of hearing judicial cases; and in certain States even the judges are elected by the majority. However iniquitous or absurd the evil of which you complain may be, you must submit to it as well as you can.
The authority of a king is purely physical, and it controls the actions of the subject without subduing his private will; but the majority possesses a power which is physical and moral at the same time; it acts upon the will as well as upon the actions of men, and it represses not only all contest, but all controversy. I know no country in which there is so little true independence of mind and freedom of discussion as in America.”
This definitely sounds up my alley thanks for the suggestion
