What is Democracy?

The left wants more “democracy.” You see, they think more “democracy” means better government.

But what does that term mean, and more importantly, what if more “democracy” meant worse government?

Calhoun certainly thought it would lead to that, but you have to understand how he defined “democracy.”

To most eighteenth century Europeans–democracy didn’t exist anywhere else–democracy was the opposite of hereditary aristocracy and monarchy. In other words, it wasn’t just the rule of the man, it was the antithesis of rule of one based on a hereditary order.

Democracy had layers. You could have direct democracy or representative democracy, but in both instances, “majority rule” defined the system.

How someone defined “majority rule” presented the most pressing problem.

If it was simply 50% plus one, then the majority would prove to plunder the minority. This happens every time. Is that good government?

Calhoun certainly didn’t think so, which is why he came up with his “concurrent majority,” a system that allowed for minority interests to have a say in the system.

It would still lead to a majority, but Calhoun knew the end result would be a central government so limited in scope that it could almost do no harm.

Has democracy produced great results? A honest answer would be complex, but we also have to realize that the United States government is not “democratic” and the left knows it. That’s why they want to abolish the Senate, the Electoral College, and pack the Supreme Court.

Of course, if they really liked democracy, they would support federalism and State governments as those and typically much more democratic than the central government in Washington.

You know why they won’t? Because those democratic governments don’t usually get on board with their lunacy, so they want to use the tyranny of the 50% plus 1 to ravage the rest of the United States.

In fact, you could argue that the only reason we have a culture war in the United States is because of the anti-democratic federal courts. Take away the left’s ability to legislate from the bench and thwart real local government and they have very little to show for all of their hot air activism.

Most Americans are not on board with their stupidity.

I discuss the meaning of democracy and American history on episode 639 of The Brion McClanahan Show.