Democracy, Incrementalism, and State Power

Louden Swain: Can 800 million Chinese be wrong?
Tanneran: Frequently
--Vision Quest

Jeff Deist discusses the danger that democracy poses to freedom over time. Using past examples of income taxes, Social Security, and Medicare, as well as the present situation related to gun control, he argues that these programs evolved over long periods of time as a result of incremental gains gradually obtained thru democratic process.

This is not a new argument, of course. Growth of state power thru incrementalism (a.k.a. gradualism or fabianism) has been discussed on these pages before. A necessary ingredient of incrementalism is ability to foster compromise, the favored strategy of statists for getting people to cede liberty over time.

He makes a particularly insightful remark near the end of the piece:

"Democracy is nothing more than the process of politically vanquishing minority viewpoints."

Indeed--as these pages have long observed. Democracy, defined as decision-making processes based on majority vote, strips rights from some for the benefit of others. Although the dangers of democracy were well known to our founding ancestors, they are little understood today.

Seemingly, democracy's incremental compromises that erode liberty grow chains of bondage so gradually that most people fail to notice.