Democracy is more than just majority rule!

I don't think that I enunciated my argument quite as well as I would have liked to (especially towards the end of the video), but given the timeliness wrt what's happened in California, I felt that I just needed to put this out there.

I will probably make another video in the future where I go into more detail as to why fairness and protection of minority and individual rights are essential to a functioning democracy.

Democracy =/= mob rule!

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• cousinomacul
• philosophy
• politics
• democracy
• republic
• mobrule
• prop8
• proph8
• fairness
• human
• rights

[waltermh111]

nice video

your not alone in this issue, but why do people choose to put their face so close to the camera?

For some reason its weird i guess? Dont know, anyway

The US is a democratic republic.

On the federal level we are fully repiublic. No popular votes are made on anything. Even popular vote in presidential election mean nothing.

On state/local level, we do vote directly on many issues with use of representatives on many others.

The more local the level the more democratic we become.

[CousinoMacul]

I like to change things up. Right now I'm playing around with the "up close" format.

"On the federal level we are fully republic."

The legislative branch is, but the strong executive and the policy setting judiciary are non-republican (in the purest sense of the word).

Thanks for the comment.

[SisyphusRedeemed]

I think there's a difference between a democracy (majority rule) and a constitutional democracy (guaranteed protections for minorities against majority rule.) Like Thomas Jefferson said, "A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine."

[CousinoMacul]

Jefferson was correct in a sense. My argument is that the two types of democracy that you mentioned are symbiotic with each other. If you try to establish one without the other, you are doomed to fail and end up with neither (or both in the best case scenario).

[helgihg]

The United States *is* a democracy in any meaningful sense. A democracy is where the people have a say in the government, and a republic and democracy are not mutually exclusive by any means.

Furthermore, a "republic" is not a clearly defined concept. Iran is a republic. The Soviet Union was a republic. Iraq was a republic under Saddam Hussein and still is. The US is a democracy *and* a republic and there is no contradiction there of any sort.

[CousinoMacul]

Thanks. I hadn't even thought about the Islamic Republic of Iran or the Soviet Socialist Republics. You're exactly right.

[patflix]

Amen! The California Supreme Court saw fit to grant equal protection to gay couples who wanted to marry. This decision was based on law. The popular success of Prop 8 which reversed the court's decision was based on fear, ignorance and religion (redundancy intended). I agree completely with what you're saying. Hope you address this further.

[windham666]

the smallest minority is the individual; theoretically we have a constitution and bill of rights to protect the individual, and to provide for power-sharing among the feds, the states, and individuals. it is the beauty of marbury versus madison, i suppose, which gives us a supreme court with the power to decide fine lines between the majority rules and the minority/indivudual rights. obviously the majority is willing to deny rights to the rest; without our courts to prevent this, we are lost.

[DonaldNice100]

Gang rape is Democratic

[ImperialRussianGuard]

While it may be unfortunate if 51 % of people oppress the 49% of people it is in no way undemocratic.You say that in order for something to be a true democracy it must have respect for "human rights". This however has little to nothing to do with the ideas of democracy. In a democracy the majority rule is of what decisions are based on, not if they are just or not. So no matter how barbaric the majorities decision is, it is in no way undemocratic.

[ToxicOdiousOne]

So be in the majority duh. Defend the majority. Assimilate into the majority and they'll be no problems. Never be a minority.

[kiamarukeemos]

what?

[aARIESsSs]

if you want further proof, look up executive order 11110, JFK tried to end the federal reserve, and give the power back to the people, he tried to free you, thats why they shot him from the from eg (his head flew backward after shot) three shoot teams triangulated on him, and thats a fact, research it i dare you executive order 11110 and the federal reserve act 1913. so you vote literally means nothing! and you cant argue because the truth is self evident. SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS

[aARIESsSs]

the truth, okay, democrat or republican, whether you choose one or the other is of no consequence, if you refer back to 1913, and the "federal reserve act" the federal reserve not being federal at all, you realise you government is now run by international bankers, they loan your gov. money with interest, so the debt is un payable, when the gov. can print it free of interest, thats the trick, you foot the bill (income tax) the president is just a puppet, and that is the truth

[BuyCandy]

Some "human rights" are necessary for democracy. Other "human rights" are for protecting copyright holders.

[oldhacks]

you do know about ni4d , dot, us don't you?