"This government can't be undemocratic, because they were elected", is often heard and always wrong.
The false notion that "the will of the people" is the only thing that matters - that a democracy is nothing more than an election every few years...
Dangerously wrong.
The false notion that "the will of the people" is the only thing that matters - that a democracy is nothing more than an election every few years...
Dangerously wrong.
Let me explain...
Say you & 9 other people are in a room, and 6 vote to throw you out the window. 6 out of 10: a majority!
Do you still think "the will of the people" is the only thing that matters?
Say you & 9 other people are in a room, and 6 vote to throw you out the window. 6 out of 10: a majority!
Do you still think "the will of the people" is the only thing that matters?
Something may be "the will of the people", yet still be wrong, even horrific...
...because others things are more important, more fundamental than a popular vote.
Like human rights.
...because others things are more important, more fundamental than a popular vote.
Like human rights.
No one's fundamental human rights - like the right to life in this case - can be removed by an election.
A political system of popular elections without respect for fundamental human rights is not a democracy.
It's a tyranny of the majority.
It's a tyranny of the majority.
Something to think about the next time you hear a politician try to claim he can't be undemocratic because he won an election.
Or the next time you hear one of the government's supporters say a rights-abusing policy is "the will of the people."
Or the next time you hear one of the government's supporters say a rights-abusing policy is "the will of the people."
(Or just the next time you're physically in a room with 9 other people.)
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