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"Democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51% of the people may take away the rights of the other 49%." -- Thomas Jefferson "Alexander Hamilton believed

"Democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51% of the people may take away the rights of the other 49%." -- Thomas Jefferson "Alexander Hamilton believed in America but not in Americans when he said in a June 1788 speech defending the ratification of the U.S. Constitution: 'That a pure democracy if it were practicable would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this. The ancient democracies in which the people themselves deliberated never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure, deformity.'"

globuous 10y ago
I think your first quote relates to tyranny of the majority [0]. Moreover, Alexis de Tocqueville brings up some interesting downsides of democracy in Democracy in America [1][2] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyranny_of_the_majority https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyranny_of_the_majority [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_in_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_in_America [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzr3AOtFA8o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzr3AOtFA8o
bluejekyll 10y ago
Sure, but does that really justify Rhode Island having the same number of Senators as California? I don't mind the temperament of law that the Senate provides, but I do think it would be more fair to have the larger states have a bigger voice in the Senate. Make the minimum 1 senator per state and the maximum 3. It will never happen of course because passing a constitutional amendment to do it would require the small states give up power, and why would they vote to do that?
calibraxis 10y ago
Yes, the US government's founders explicitly hated democracy, and were slavers. Only after president Andrew Jackson transformed the language in a PR stunt (maybe like calling yourself "anarchist" nowadays), did people imagine the US as a "democracy." (Which of course it isn't, just look at the guys who made the US government.)
- jasonjei 10y ago
  I don't believe they hated democracy. I do think they had a dim view of people doing the right thing and mob rule. Hamilton wrote the above quote when he saw somebody being lynched in Albany.
dang 10y ago
Not Jefferson: https://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/democracy-nothing-more-mob-rule https://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/democracy-nothing-....
- jasonjei 10y ago
  Acknowledged and agreed. Still applicable, even if it's not directly attributed to Jefferson, it does sound like it is written in his spirit with respect to tyranny of the majority.

globuous 10y ago

I think your first quote relates to tyranny of the majority [0]. Moreover, Alexis de Tocqueville brings up some interesting downsides of democracy in Democracy in America [1][2] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyranny_of_the_majority https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyranny_of_the_majority [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_in_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_in_America [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzr3AOtFA8o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzr3AOtFA8o

bluejekyll 10y ago

Sure, but does that really justify Rhode Island having the same number of Senators as California? I don't mind the temperament of law that the Senate provides, but I do think it would be more fair to have the larger states have a bigger voice in the Senate. Make the minimum 1 senator per state and the maximum 3. It will never happen of course because passing a constitutional amendment to do it would require the small states give up power, and why would they vote to do that?

calibraxis 10y ago

Yes, the US government's founders explicitly hated democracy, and were slavers. Only after president Andrew Jackson transformed the language in a PR stunt (maybe like calling yourself "anarchist" nowadays), did people imagine the US as a "democracy." (Which of course it isn't, just look at the guys who made the US government.)

jasonjei 10y ago
I don't believe they hated democracy. I do think they had a dim view of people doing the right thing and mob rule. Hamilton wrote the above quote when he saw somebody being lynched in Albany.

dang 10y ago

Not Jefferson: https://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/democracy-nothing-more-mob-rule https://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/democracy-nothing-....

jasonjei 10y ago
Acknowledged and agreed. Still applicable, even if it's not directly attributed to Jefferson, it does sound like it is written in his spirit with respect to tyranny of the majority.