I'm no fan of Hannity or Glenn Beck. Often times I feel they are exaggerating things to the extreme for their own political agenda. But to claim democracy is opposite of tyranny is just acting like Hannity or Glenn Beck. There is a reason the founding fathers chose republic over democracy. In a republic, the rights of the minority is protected against the will of the majority. In a democracy, the rule is controlled by the majority and often times will infringe on rights of the minority, this is what people call "The Tyranny of the Majority".
Let me point out a couple of examples.
The reason US does not have a direct election is because it follows republicanism. It prevents the majority from overriding the minority in electoral process. If it was a direct election(like in a democracy), less populated states would always be at the mercy of the populous states. The electoral college(indirect election) lessens this and protects to some extent those less populated states.
Another example is referendum about gay marriage in California. We all know gay are in minority, and because of that, the majority voted to against them. As you know, referendums is basis of a democracy and this shows the tyranny of the majority. Democracy will eventually become tyrannical.
Jon Stewart pointed out, "This is democracy, you are now in minority, it is supposed to taste like that..." first of all, this is not a democracy, its a republic. second so is this how people behave when they become the majority? Sound like roots of tyrannical sentiments to me.
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This page contains a single entry published on April 11, 2009 4:31 PM.
I'm no fan of Hannity or Glenn Beck. Often times I feel they are exaggerating things to the extreme for their own political agenda. But to claim democracy is opposite of tyranny is just acting like Hannity or Glenn Beck. There is a reason the founding fathers chose republic over democracy. In a republic, the rights of the minority is protected against the will of the majority. In a democracy, the rule is controlled by the majority and often times will infringe on rights of the minority, this is what people call "The Tyranny of the Majority".
Let me point out a couple of examples.
The reason US does not have a direct election is because it follows republicanism. It prevents the majority from overriding the minority in electoral process. If it was a direct election(like in a democracy), less populated states would always be at the mercy of the populous states. The electoral college(indirect election) lessens this and protects to some extent those less populated states.
Another example is referendum about gay marriage in California. We all know gay are in minority, and because of that, the majority voted to against them. As you know, referendums is basis of a democracy and this shows the tyranny of the majority. Democracy will eventually become tyrannical.
Jon Stewart pointed out, "This is democracy, you are now in minority, it is supposed to taste like that..." first of all, this is not a democracy, its a republic. second so is this how people behave when they become the majority? Sound like roots of tyrannical sentiments to me.