Promoting democracy by taking power from elected politicians always seemed paradoxical to conservative constitutionalists but the myth of national executives and courts making final decisions in the name of the people has become widely accepted today. Winston Churchill responded that democracy was the worst form of government except for all the others. Without a government of rules, there is a nasty war of all against all, proven in the civil bloodshed, terrorism, riots, maiming and genocide that take place throughout the world. Elections are a peaceful means to settle differences. But no one would freely give an opponent total control of one s life just because he won a handful more votes if they did not have some guarantees this power would not be abused.
Constitutions make voting safer than fighting.
Yet, they cannot guarantee good or even popular results. More than 200 years ago, the mathematical genius the Marquis the Condorcet proved the political science theorem that there is no necessary relationship between the things people want on specific issues and how they vote in elections. This was no more congenial then than now since he lost his head in the French Revolution. Only a market with its wide array of alternatives can guarantee that a person s first choice will be fulfilled. Unlike substitutable products, there can be only one president.