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Title: Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Democracy?
Source:
Wonkwire
URL Source: http://wonkwire.com/2015/04/03/is-t ... a-thing-as-too-much-democracy/
Published: Apr 3, 2015
Author: Sara Goddart??
Post Date: 2015-04-03 14:45:14 by Biff Tannen
Keywords: None
Views: 1001
Comments: 5
Observing the rapt eulogies of former Singapore president, Lee Kuan Yew, Richard Cohen in the Washington Post writes that “we appear to be suffering from an acute case of authoritarian envy.” “We suffer from an excess of democracy. We have a Congress that has been gridlocked for as long as anyone can remember. It is at the mercy of any extremist from anywhere in the country who can threaten a primary fight. Our infrastructure is eroding, yet we seem incapable of doing anything about it.” “Lee also knew the value — the sheer utility — of education … Yet the left and the right are united in opposition to national education standards — conservatives because the word national gives them the willies and liberals because standards might result in an unequal outcome. America is flunking common sense.” “In the United States it is considered highly offensive and deeply retrograde to value one culture over another and to search always for economic reasons for disparities. In Singapore, Lee knew he had a winner in the Chinese culture and promoted it. Indeed, he made it the national ethic. In this country, the national ethic is not to work too hard and to denigrate those who do. Self-esteem sometimes seems more important than attainment. We are, as we keep saying, No. 1 — at self-delusion.”
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#1. To: Biff Tannen (#0)
Yes.
There is such a thing as too much democracy . The founders were wary of democracy as a governing principle. This was widely known by the founders : "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship." [Alexander Fraser Tytler] "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."[John Adams] That's why the founders gave us a representative Republic and not a democracy . Madison wrote in Federalist #10 :"Hence it is that democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general have been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths... A republic, by which I mean a government in which a scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking." What there isn't enough of is liberty .
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Tyranny of the majority. Mob rule. Any democracy at all, is too much.
Good one. Of course, the next thing we usually hear is what a nice guy Pontius Pilate was. When in fact he was a brutal governor who wasn't at all shy about massacring and executing any number of subjects to keep his province in order.
I see those who profess to be Christians making that choice all the time
#2. To: Biff Tannen (#0)
#3. To: Biff Tannen, mob rule, tyranny of the majority (#0)
The D&R terrorists hate us because we're free, to vote second party
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul
#4. To: hondo68 (#3)
#5. To: hondo68 (#3)
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