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Really funny when people in a democracy believe in majority rule.

by csours 9y ago

jackhack 9y ago
Or those in a representative, Constitutional Republic, which is what the United States of America is. USA is not a democracy, thank God. A democracy is mob rule.
- meri_dian 9y ago
  Imagine pure democracy mixed with social media... Horrific
  - Parcissons 9y ago
    Actually as long as the people only hold the power to veto by direct vote- that idea is not that horrific.
- lurr 9y ago
  A republic and a democracy are not mutually exclusive. The US is a democracy, it is not a direct democracy.
turc1656 9y ago
The structure is such that people elect representatives and those representatives sometimes appoint other people to roles because it's not feasible for people to elect 10's or 100's of thousands of public employees with decision and regulatory making power. Also, all of these people are still humans. Meaning that they have their own closely held beliefs. If you are honestly expecting non-elected officials to violate their own beliefs based on public feedback simply because "majority rules", you aren't living in reality. That virtually never happens. When it does happen, it usually happens on issues that are not hot-button issues and those being hounded by the public don't have a strong opinion so they are willing to switch sides if necessary. And the US is not and has never been a majority rule democracy. It's a constitutional republic and that's a critical difference. Part of that structure is ensuring that in some cases (like the electoral college), the majority don't get to make the rules simply because they decided to band together or live close to each other. The electoral college exists precisely for the situation the US is currently in - where the more liberal areas are all clustered in relatively small, high density areas. They now account for more than 50% of the population but far less in the electoral college because the system was built to prevent that density issue where these small areas by land mass could force feed laws upon the rest of the country, enabling those areas to effectively have control over money and resources which they otherwise would not.
dang 9y ago
Please don't post unsubstantive comments here, especially not on divisive topics. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Really funny when people in a democracy believe in majority rule.

by csours 9y ago

Really funny when people in a democracy believe in majority rule.

Or those in a representative, Constitutional Republic, which is what the United States of America is. USA is not a democracy, thank God. A democracy is mob rule.

meri_dian 9y ago
Imagine pure democracy mixed with social media... Horrific
- Parcissons 9y ago
  Actually as long as the people only hold the power to veto by direct vote- that idea is not that horrific.
lurr 9y ago
A republic and a democracy are not mutually exclusive. The US is a democracy, it is not a direct democracy.

turc1656 9y ago

The structure is such that people elect representatives and those representatives sometimes appoint other people to roles because it's not feasible for people to elect 10's or 100's of thousands of public employees with decision and regulatory making power. Also, all of these people are still humans. Meaning that they have their own closely held beliefs. If you are honestly expecting non-elected officials to violate their own beliefs based on public feedback simply because "majority rules", you aren't living in reality. That virtually never happens. When it does happen, it usually happens on issues that are not hot-button issues and those being hounded by the public don't have a strong opinion so they are willing to switch sides if necessary. And the US is not and has never been a majority rule democracy. It's a constitutional republic and that's a critical difference. Part of that structure is ensuring that in some cases (like the electoral college), the majority don't get to make the rules simply because they decided to band together or live close to each other. The electoral college exists precisely for the situation the US is currently in - where the more liberal areas are all clustered in relatively small, high density areas. They now account for more than 50% of the population but far less in the electoral college because the system was built to prevent that density issue where these small areas by land mass could force feed laws upon the rest of the country, enabling those areas to effectively have control over money and resources which they otherwise would not.

dang 9y ago

Please don't post unsubstantive comments here, especially not on divisive topics. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html