Tyranny of the Majority
In John Stuart Mill’s books, On Liberty and Utilitarianism, Mill states that a democracy is in fact no better than a monarchy. If a majority in a democracy is in favor of a law or decision, the minority has no chance. In the chart below, a majority could vote for one option, and much more than half the people would not be in favor. But isn’t a democracy supposed to support freedom and rights for everyone? Where do one person’s rights overlap another’s? And if everyone rules, shouldn't all people be the same? The answer is yes, but, in a democracy, the act, decision, or action with the most votes would be passed. So, this is what is known as majority rule, or, tyranny of the majority.
Tyranny of the majority
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The majority wanted the empire overthrown, and it turned out to lead to a more tolerant dynasty that the majority prefered. The Persian Empire had Cambyses, a corrupt ruler who misused his power to marry his sister, kill her, and then marry another one! He also killed one of his advisers and had him made into a chair, and later making his son sit in it when he inherited his dad’s job. Cambyses was so bad, Persia had a vote to redo their government, and the majority voted to keep monarchy. Mesopotamia was a mess, because their rulers claimed to be gods, a technique not only used by the Mesopotamians used, but the Egyptians to enforce their power with religion. The majority believed them, so they stayed in power. In a more modern sense, and the majority of the world wanted Germany to not take over the world, so they all grouped together to fight the first and second World Wars. The majority always plays a part in power. The ruler would never have enough power to rule with certainty of staying in his position. No matter what type of government a civilization chooses, the majority always is in some kind of power. Not just in democracy, but in dictatorships and
You may be thinking how did the constitution stop tyranny? Well we have the answer. Let's start of with what tyranny means, that a leader or king abuses their power. How did the constitution guard against tyranny? Well they abuse their power bad deeds. The constitution guard against tyranny in these four ways. Federalism, separation of power, checks and balances, and small states vs. large states.
“ … we… need an alternative to winner-take-all majoritarianism… with Nikolas’s help… I call [this] the ‘principle of taking turns.’ [It] does better than simple majority rule… it accommodates the values of self-government, fairness, deliberation, compromise, and consensus that lie at the heart of the democratic ideal” (para.
By its use of majority rule, America’s democracy models a collectivist society. Take elections for an example. Although, Americans vote individually, the decision ultimately is based on the country as a whole. The use of majority rule relates to the representation of the ideas of the masses rather than the ideas of the individuals. As expected, there is always a number of people who disagree with the majority's opinions. Disagreement is frowned upon, which Andrew P. Naplitano highlights in his book, It Is Dangerous to Be Right When the Government Is Wrong: The Case for Personal Freedom. Due to America's use of the majority rule, this title often holds true.
In the Summer of 1787, fifty-five delegates representing 12 out of the 13 states in Philadelphia to fix the Articles of Confederation. They met in philadelphia because the Articles of Confederation was too weak. Shay’s rebellion was the end of the Articles of Confederation bringing down the whole network calling for a change of government. They did this to prevent a tyrant or tyranny. A tyrant/tyranny is when someone or a group abuses their power. The Constitution guarded against tyranny through Federalism, Separation of powers, Checks and Balances, and The Great Compromise.
Constitution and Tyranny Tyranny is cruel, unreasonable, or arbitrary use of power or control. This one act could ultimately be the downfall of a people, of a government, of a nation. Chaos ensues and the structure of the country collapses. The colonial United States required a plan of protection from tyranny, which led our Founding Fathers to institute the Constitution. The Constitution, written in 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, provides a backbone for our country.
To enforce voting to be mandatory , this will prompt more Americans to pay attention to the choices for their representatives. Mandating would stimulate the demand side, motivating voters to understand and acknowledge who they are voting for. Therefore , voting is to be a responsibility than a option.
Factions pose a threat to democracy and its associated ideals. This notion is proven through the overpowering of the minority by the majority, in which the opinions of certain groups are silenced, while others amplified. This majority and minority also forge animosity that not only creates competition, but sways the government away from its true purpose. Therefore, since the purpose of government is swayed, leadership becomes an issue. These issues are part of a cluster of other issues that prove factions detrimental to democracy and its principles.
The Women’s Suffrage Movement was successful in that it achieved its original goal of earning voting rights for women. This movement officially began in the United States in 1848 at the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. They drafted 12 resolutions calling for voting rights for women and overall equal treatment of women. This historic conference created a primary goal of obtaining voting rights for women. The first national women’s rights convention was held two years later in 1850 in Worcester, Massachusetts. This convention held over 1,000 participants and started an annual national convention.
Throughout history, there has been countless times where a country is ran by tyranny, and countless times where tyranny negatively affects the country. Our country, the United States of America, was one of those countries at one point, but we thankfully got out of it from war. Since our country didn’t want to go back to tyranny, people had to create a system, and a set of principles that would prevent that from happening. So, the Constitution was made. Tyranny is a government ran by one person, or a small amount of people, and the United States got out of it, but we still had to establish a way to prevent it from happening again. The constitution did it’s job and protected against tyranny by the small states vs. large states, federalism, separation of power, and checks and balances.
An Analysis of the Absolute Monarchy of France in the 17th Century This historical study will define the absolute monarchy as it was defied through the French government in the 17th century. The term ‘absolute” is defined I the monarchy through the absolute control over the people through the king and the royal family. All matters of civic, financial, and political governance was controlled through the king’s sole power as the monarchical ruler of the French people. In France, Louis XIII is an important example of the absolute monarchy, which controlled all facts of military and economic power through a single ruler. Udder Louis XIII’s reign, the consolidation of power away from the Edicts of Nantes to dominant local politics and sovereignty
For a historian, the 20th century and all the historic events that it encompasses represents a utopia with endless sources of inspiration for the analysis of political figures, events and their consequences. Political figures such as Benito Mussolini of Italy, Adolf Hitler of Germany, Mao Zedong of China and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union are all names we are familiar with due to the time period that they influenced; this time period after the trauma and atrocities of World War I and the Great Depression led to completely new forms of government in Europe and beyond. These “manifestations of political evil”, commonly known as totalitarian states, should not be considered as mere extensions of already existing political systems, but rather as completely new forms of government built upon terror and ideological fiction. Therefore, this was also a time in which political philosophers such as Hannah Arendt, the author of the standard work on totalitarianism, “Origins of Totalitarianism”, could thrive. When looking at totalitarianism as a political philosophy, two initial questions have to be dealt with: what is totalitarianism and what kind of effect it had on countries ruled by totalitarian regimes. The reasons for its occurrence have briefly been mentioned above, although there are much deeper ideological, social and economic reasons including imperialism and anti-Semitism. In order to fully understand it, we must also contrast it to other political systems like authoritarianism and dictatorship, which are similar to a certain extent, but lack crucial elements that are in the core of totalitarian ideology. Out of the many examples of totalitarian regimes in the 20th century, Nazi Germany, Communist China and the Soviet Union stan...
In a majority rule the basic concept of democracy is that the people ultimately rule. The Government passes laws that appear to be the “deliberative will” of the people. However, Government doesn’t do everything the people wants. It takes in information absorbs it and comes with a solution for the majority. In order for the people to be heard they have to get out and participate in the political process. It is our constitutional right to vote, speak and contribute in the selection of our representative in a majority.
in the hands of the president. " Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It
The women’s suffrage movement was the struggle for the right of women to vote, run for office, and is part of the overall women’s rights movement. In the 19th century, women in several countries most recognizably the U.S. and england formed organizations to fight for suffrage. Beginning in the mid 19th century, several generations of woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and participated in civil strike to achieve what many Americans considered a revolutionary change in the Constitution.
Throughout history different types of instrumental regimes have been in tact so civilizations remained structured and cohesive. As humanity advanced, governments obligingly followed. Although there have been hiccups from the ancient times to modern day, one type of government, democracy, has proven to be the most effective and adaptive. As quoted by Winston Churchill, democracy is the best form of government that has existed. This is true because the heart of democracy is reliant, dependent, and thrives on the populaces desires; which gives them the ability for maintaining the right to choose, over time it adjusts and fixes itself to engulf the prominent troubling issues, and people have the right of electing the person they deem appropriate and can denounce them once they no longer appease them. In this paper, the benefits of democracy are outlined, compared to autocratic communism, and finally the flaws of democracy are illustrated.