Democracy and Individual Rights

George: The coach is dimissed by a vote of 68 to 45.
Opal Fleener: I think we should vote again!
--Hoosiers

These pages have periodically questioned the fit between democracy (i.e., decisions by majority vote) and liberty (search here). Here's a small missive, including a video, that sums the issue.

The primary problem is a simple one. If government (i.e., legitimized force) is simply an expression of what the majority wants, then minorities are forced to do things that they do not want to do. This is not liberty, but 'tyranny of the majority.'

The missive highlights the Kelo v City of New London Supreme Court decision as an example. A woman who did not want to sell her home to developers lost her property when the Supreme Court ruled that the development's benefits to the community exceeded the woman's private interests--essentially the same 'common good' argument that legalized invasive pollution in the 19th century.

The extra sad postscript to Kelo is that the development as planned never got off the ground (after Ms Kelo's house was bulldozed) when corporate welfarist Pfizer (PFE) pulled up its stakes and left town.

Of all ideas built up by education and media propoganda machines, democracy as being compatible with liberty is near the top of the list.

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