I published this article today. Is democracy "the orignal 51% attack" (evoorhees) or something else?
Many people will often uphold democracy as true freedom. They will say democracy is representative of “the people”, that it is for “the people” and that it reflects the needs of “the people”. Some “libertarians”, who disagree, may say that democracy is 51% or more of the population against 49% or less of the population. These “libertarians” suggest the view that democracy reflects the majority but is against the minority. Perhaps both views are incorrect in the understanding of democracy. What does the mirror of democracy really reflect?
Firstly in a representative democracy, candidates for political positions win if they get more votes than any other candidate. This is not necessarily a majority of the votes because, for instance, A, the winner, could only get 40% of the vote while B and C get 30% each. Everyone that voted for another candidate did not receive the politician they voted for.
Secondly the elected legislators only have a vote in passing laws, and often the laws will be passed against any given politician’s particular preference on the issue. Political parties often pool together votes so that people can vote for the political parties they want as opposed to individuals. They hope that, if their party is elected, the party will have control over the legislature and perhaps executive/cabinet positions. People do not realise this acts to further limit the choice from individual politicians down to fewer parties. With first past the post systems, an elected politician may not have any real power at all which excludes entire groups of voters.
Thirdly, your vote is individually worthless and makes no difference. Any party could be voted in and you have no direct control over that through a single vote. Never in history has a single vote made a difference. If you think voting is “making your voice heard”, think again.
Fourthly, when you wish for your life decisions to be delegated to a politician, you are giving up individual sovereignty. Democracy does not give you freedom, it takes it away. A slave that votes for masters is still a slave. You can only vote for who you think will make the decisions that will best effect yourself. People will often vote in an attempt to receive privileges granted by the removal of other people’s freedoms. In the end everyone loses their freedom. Democracy isn’t the majority against the minority, it’s everybody against everybody.
People actually do think that delegating their life away is beneficial. The politicians that get into power are the ones that are the most successful at convincing people that the people’s lives are best run at the hands of those politicians. Hence those in government are good at lies, propaganda and seduction. Those that worship democracy say that government is a reflection of the people. I say democracy is a reflection of the stupidity of people; the stupidity to buy into the propaganda instead of thinking for one’s self.
It amazes me that people ignore the obvious example of the Nazis. The Nazis used propaganda very effectively to seduce the German’s into giving them power. The propaganda used by the Nazi’s included a sense of national pride and fear-mongering that you can see in modern day propaganda. The Nazi’s kept many parts of the ideology secret and moved more and more evil into the German’s lives over time. It demonstrates if you tolerate the small things, bigger evils are sure to follow, by which time it is too late.
Always remember that the Hitler rose to power in a democratic system!
People often say “but only the Germans were that stupid”. Nope, I say democracy is a reflection of the stupidity of the majority of people and it doesn’t matter where those people reside. Take a look into the mirror and then shatter it; shatter the idea of democracy.
Author: Matthew Mitchell
matthewmitchell@thelibertyportal.com
