From: brian@quake.sylmar.ca.us (Brian K. Yoder)
Subject: Re: University students ask abt democracy
Organization: Quake Public Access
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 00:30:42 GMT

In article <1992Sep02.122210.18194@vdoe386.vak12ed.edu> bthursto@vdoe386.vak12ed.edu (Beverly Thurston) writes:
>Hi, I am teaching a class for college freshmen to introduce them to
>American Government.  They have asked three questions about
>democracy and would like responses from teachers and students.
>The questions are:
>1)  Is democracy the best political system?  Why or why not?

That depends entirely on what is meant by the term "democracy".  What people
often mean when they use the term is "Unlimited power of the majority", which
I consider to be incredibly dangerous and probably one of the worst possible
political system.  When 51% of the population can rob and murder the other
49%, nobody is safe from this kind of "Tyranny of the majority".  This is
often even worse than an outright dictatorship since unless the dictator is
thoroughly insane, he can at least maintain a consistent policy under which
people can live...if a few points of shift in public opinion can destroy your
long-term plans, you will simply stop making them, and sink into barbarism.

If what is meant by "democracy" is democratic election of the officials
who carry out the requirements of a limited constitutional government, then
as long as the constitution is not evil, then it is the best political system
by far.  As I see it, the IMPORTANT issue in the goodness of the government
relates to it's central purpose and it's relationship to individual liberty,
not the method by which it's officers are selected.  I DO think that what
method is used (democracy as opposed to monarchy, brutalism, or theocracy)
is vitally important in determining how the government will develop and
whether it will survive, but it is not the CENTRAL issue.  

The American government was originally constructed so as to be of this second
type, with the central purpose of the government being the protection of
individual rights (through police, courts, and military).  Unfortunately,
during the 20th century, the limitations have been badly eroded and we have
a system much more like unlimited majority rule than like limited constitutional
government with elected officials.

>2)  What are the downfalls and perils of democracy?

In the first case (unlimited majority rule), there are many problems.  One is
that a majority vote cannot establish long-term policies since public 
opinion is fairly fickle.  Another is that minority rights are not
protected under such a system (and when I say "minority" I mean more than
racial and religious minorities, that includes minorities like "the rich",
"the poor", "lawyers", "the old", "the young", "doctors", "steel workers",
"mothers", etc.  everyone is a minority in this sense, and is vulnerable to
attack by an unlimited majority rule).  A third is that unlimited majority
rule, even if exercised benevolently, implicitly violates the individual
sovereignty of individual citizens by asserting that the government, rather
than the individual has the final say on how one ought to choose to live
one's life.  This makes it an immoral and dangerous system.

In the second case, there is really only one peril, which is that it takes
constant work to maintain the public idea that democracy is ONLY good if
it is limited to the selection of officials whose job is to defend individual
rights.  As soon as people realize that they can pass laws to rob others
to get more money or power for themselves, they become tyrants.  In essence,
the only peril of limited democracy is that it is easy to lose, and in fact,
we have mostly lost it already.

>3) [this question is for foreign countries] How does your
>government promote democracy, what freedoms do you have, what
>freedoms are most important to you and what steps are you
>taking towards democratization?

This seems to imply that freedom and democracy are the same thing.  They are
not.  It is certainly possible for a country to be fully democratic and
fully evil and tyrannical.  A majority can crush freedoms every bit as
effectively as a single man can.

--Brian

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