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Contrary to popular opinion, democracy can be detrimental to the liberal values espoused by our founding fathers. If a democracy wants more prisons and harsh p
by kiba 11y ago
Contrary to popular opinion, democracy can be detrimental to the liberal values espoused by our founding fathers.
If a democracy wants more prisons and harsh punishment, they'll get it.
- lucideer 11y agoA big part of the equation to also consider is suffrage. Felony disenfranchisement in the US is one of the worst in the world. One could argue that turnout may be low regardless of rights, but given the US incarceration rates it's still going to be a fairly substantial figure.
- tremon 11y agoEspecially if you remove voting rights from everyone who's actually experienced such prisons.
- InclinedPlane 11y agoDemocracy is just rule by majority. That does not always translate into good governance and protections for individual liberty. That's why in the US the constitution has a lot of mechanisms to prevent erosion of liberties (the bill of rights baked into the highest law of the land, for example) and to moderate the effects of the "tyranny of the majority". For example, many people decry gridlock in the federal government, but gridlock is the intended situation for when there is only a moderate majority for some position in the electorate. The system is designed to require a substantial majority (e.g. 2:1) in order to make lots of substantial changes quickly.