05-06-2016, 03:34 PM
The distinction is between anarchy with elections and a constitutional state. Majority rule is not enough for a workable democracy; even a lynch mob ordinarily makes its decisions by majority rule.
People in the minority need some legal protection. A democratic election that establishes the result that 51% of the voters can kill, enslave, or rob the other 49% brings about the end of democracy.
The 'democracy' that Socrates and Plato lament is best described as mob rule. The democracy that we have had depends upon the rule of law. Clearly the strength of democracy depends to no small extent upon the readiness of people for the responsibilities of the vote. It's up to people living in a free country to reject the demagogues who promise everything to everybody else and then fault the People for the failure of the demagogue's (usually dictatorial) government to meet the contradictory demands that people made through the demagogue. The demagogue usually seizes dictatorial power for his own self-preservation even if he did not intend to do so initially -- and democracy becomes some form of tyranny.
People in the minority need some legal protection. A democratic election that establishes the result that 51% of the voters can kill, enslave, or rob the other 49% brings about the end of democracy.
The 'democracy' that Socrates and Plato lament is best described as mob rule. The democracy that we have had depends upon the rule of law. Clearly the strength of democracy depends to no small extent upon the readiness of people for the responsibilities of the vote. It's up to people living in a free country to reject the demagogues who promise everything to everybody else and then fault the People for the failure of the demagogue's (usually dictatorial) government to meet the contradictory demands that people made through the demagogue. The demagogue usually seizes dictatorial power for his own self-preservation even if he did not intend to do so initially -- and democracy becomes some form of tyranny.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.