Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jesse Mathewson on April 20, 2010 at 10:33am

Very good answer and I have to agree, though I may disagree with decisions made as long as it is truly the will of the majority and not just a more vocal minority I will gladly accede to those wishes.

Do you feel that we should educate our youth to better understand this?


(ps, sorry about the last image- I collect Constitutional War era - Revolutionary War era - first edition literature, letters, speeches etc...just showing off - I am a bit vain about my collection!)

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Permalink Reply by Gaytor on April 20, 2010 at 4:21pm

The will of the majority is often predicated on misinformation. For example, many Americans are anti-abortion. Biblically you must infer that God is anti-abortion, but you can clearly show that he is ok and or pro-abortion. Or the idea that this country was founded on some Judeo-Christian values and therefore we should follow that train of thought. Or we have a large military, so we should keep it large because the bogeyman is out to get us.

Education would be a great way to foster a public that votes for the middle ground and not the extreme. We often will disqualify the best candidate for a political position based on a solitary issue. The Evangelical vores on Abortion in the South are an example. Union Memberships only vote for whom will protect their jobs. If we do that we end up where we are today, passionate voters forcing the pendulum to swing so far back and forth that we've cut off out nose despite our face.. The only solution that comes to mind is a electoral college for all positions, but that would only breed further corruption and remove our voices all together.

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Permalink Reply by Olivia Kuo on April 20, 2010 at 5:18pm

"So making it a simple question with not so simple implications, is the will of the majority always the best and who can say for sure?"

I don't think that the majority rule should ever be endowed the power to encroach on our human rights and our liberties stipulated by the Declaration of Independence and protected by the Constitution. We can always spot the problems generated by an unquestioned majority rule. In history, slaves and Native Americans were often the victim of the oppressions of the white colonizers and their descendants.

We don't have a perfect system, which is why democracy can be described as the "tyranny of the majority," granted it'd be better than "tyranny of one" or "tyranny of a few." In Federalist no. 10, Madison proposes that in order to avoid a rampant, whimsical majority rule, the minority must work through compromise, which may not always create an ideal state - example: da, dt - or must prevent the formation of "the same passion in a majority," which I think most closely relates to the atheist agenda; to avoid the installment of a notion of "a Christian nation" that demolishes the separation of church and state, and that could lead to a McCarthyistic prosecution of atheists.

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Permalink Reply by Galen on April 20, 2010 at 5:36pm

In a true Democracy, the majority rules. However, America is NOT a Democracy, it is a Democratic Republic. In a Republic, the rights of the minority are as important as those of the majority.

And this is as it should be. If you look back through history at all of the serious injustices that have occurred then, as a rule, the majority is usually WRONG.

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Permalink Reply by Jesse Mathewson on April 20, 2010 at 6:40pm

Nicely posted, and as you can see in my initial post I made your point I believe as well.
Still, what is a vote good for if the majority cannot win using it! ;)

Again great answers everyone, thank you!

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Permalink Reply by Shine on April 21, 2010 at 7:44am

Civil rights should never be at the mercy of majority rule. A tyranny of the majority is clearly exhibited in cases where gay marriage is decided by popular vote.

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Permalink Reply by Silenus on April 21, 2010 at 8:34am

I don't think you can convince the majority of anything, because they really don't care about anything of any importance. If they were interested than they would already know. The majority of people that have access to the internet, but only use it for their social lives, sport scores, stupid you tube videos..etc...etc.. shows that they don't care.

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