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Just like governments, corporations are groups of individual people nominally organized around a common goal. If the government overreaches to a degree that wil

Just like governments, corporations are groups of individual people nominally organized around a common goal. If the government overreaches to a degree that will have a significant negative effect on corporations' bottom lines, as would Apple being forced to backdoor its software, we should absolutely expect corporations to step in on the side of their customers. Of course corporations will be pragmatic about when they step in to "protect the people" as you put it. But let's not kid ourselves about governments ever being fully (mostly, even) on the side of the people.

ignoramous 11y ago
> But let's not kid ourselves about governments ever being fully (mostly, even) on the side of the people. Exactly. What kind of democracy is this?
- prewett 11y ago
  It's not, it's a republic. In fact, the Founding Fathers considered democracy a terrible form of government. "Democracy is the most vile form of government" (James Madison) "A simple democracy is the devil's own government." (Benjamin Rush, signed Declaration of Independence) "Democracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy..." (John Adams) "The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." (Thomas Jefferson) Many, many more at http://www.godtheoriginalintent.com/democracy_republic_quotes.html http://www.godtheoriginalintent.com/democracy_republic_quote... (sorry about the choice of web site, but the selection of quotations is impressive.)
  - arrrg 11y ago
    That’s simply a discrepancy in definitions. ”Democracy” as used in your quotes is not “democracy” as used elsewhere here. With democracy the people you quoted meant something more specific than the people using it here. Today democracy is simply a catch-all term.
  - tamana 11y ago
    That Jefferson quote shows a lot of chutzpah for a slave owner.
    - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
      Yeah, true. But I imagine his comment was about a law that absolved all debts. Democracy had a rocky start, including bread-and-circuses laws. Folks were not used to wielding voting power, and misused it terribly for a time.

ignoramous 11y ago

> But let's not kid ourselves about governments ever being fully (mostly, even) on the side of the people. Exactly. What kind of democracy is this?

prewett 11y ago
It's not, it's a republic. In fact, the Founding Fathers considered democracy a terrible form of government. "Democracy is the most vile form of government" (James Madison) "A simple democracy is the devil's own government." (Benjamin Rush, signed Declaration of Independence) "Democracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy..." (John Adams) "The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." (Thomas Jefferson) Many, many more at http://www.godtheoriginalintent.com/democracy_republic_quotes.html http://www.godtheoriginalintent.com/democracy_republic_quote... (sorry about the choice of web site, but the selection of quotations is impressive.)
- arrrg 11y ago
  That’s simply a discrepancy in definitions. ”Democracy” as used in your quotes is not “democracy” as used elsewhere here. With democracy the people you quoted meant something more specific than the people using it here. Today democracy is simply a catch-all term.
- tamana 11y ago
  That Jefferson quote shows a lot of chutzpah for a slave owner.
  - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
    Yeah, true. But I imagine his comment was about a law that absolved all debts. Democracy had a rocky start, including bread-and-circuses laws. Folks were not used to wielding voting power, and misused it terribly for a time.