The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson

The Problems of Democracy and Majoritarian Rule

Many of my readers are aware that I do not look favorably upon the Democratic Party or Progressives. I do not believe that the Democratic Party or Progressives policies and positions are in the best interests of all Americans but are only for the benefit of the various interest groups that support the Democratic Party or Progressives. I also believe that these policies and positions negatively impact on the Freedoms and Liberties of all Americans. In many cases, the Democratic Party or Progressives relies on sloganeering and mob passions to achieve their goals. Sloganeering and mob passions that are without intellectual reasoning. When I encounter intellectual reasoning in support of the Democratic Party or Progressives policies and positions, I take such reasoning seriously, and I apply my own intellectual reasoning to their arguments. I may even, but rarely, modify my own reasoning because of this consideration of their intellectual reasoning. I am also able to determine the flawed “Reasoning” of their arguments.

The False Premise Problems

The Vox website presents many reasoned articles to support the Democratic Party and the Progressive viewpoints. Articles such as; “11 ways to fix America’s fundamentally broken democracy”, “The definitive case for ending the filibuster”, and to a lesser extent, “A definitive case against the Electoral College” that intellectually present their viewpoints and conclusions. Although I would disagree on some of their reasoning and history, I admire their intellectualism in their presentation of their ideas. However, although they may reach a logical conclusion, the conclusions that they reach does not analyze the real-world consequences of their implementation. While their solutions are fine in theory, in practice, they would have terrible consequences to the principles of the Constitution. This is because Vox concentrates on the concept of Democracy in America while ignoring the concepts and meaning of a Democratic-Republic in America. Their implementation would result in one-party rulership, the Democratic Party rulership, in America. Rulership that could effectively ignore a large part of America when implementing their policies. Our Founding Fathers were acutely aware of the history and problems of democracy, as evidenced by the following quote:

"Democracies ... have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."
- James Madison

Our Founding Fathers, therefore, designed a Constitution to alleviate these problems. A Constitution based on the principles of a Democratic-Republic that would rein in the problems of a Democracy and Majoritarian Rule. They formulated the Constitution to help preserve our Freedoms and Liberties and to create a United States.

The basic flaw in the Vox arguments is that they start with an unstated false premise, and if you start from a false premise, you will reach a false conclusion. Their unstated false premise is that the goal of the Constitution is to establish a democracy with the will of the majority to implement governmental policies. However, this is not the goal of the Constitution, as the goal of the Constitution is so eloquently stated in its Preamble:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.“

The Preamble does not speak of democracy or majoritarian rule, but of justice, tranquility, defense, general welfare, and liberty. In fact, democracy is never mentioned in the Constitution or its Amendments, and majorities are only mentioned in the Electoral College election of the President and Vice President, for the purposes of a quorum in the House of Representatives, and if the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. As the Founding Fathers were departing the Pennsylvania State House at the close of the Constitutional Convention, one of the bystanders shouted a question to Benjamin Franklin:

Bystander - 'Well, Doctor, what have we got - a Republic or a Monarchy?''
Franklin - 'A Republic, if you can keep it.'

Let us hope that we can keep our Constitution as a Republic and not let it morph into a democracy. I hope this morphing does not happen for the reasons illuminated in this article.

Therefore, democracy and majoritarian rule is not a Constitutional prerogative, and they must always function within the constrictions of our Constitution. Constrictions that protect the rights of the minority against the will of the majority, and constrictions that protect the “Natural, Human, and Civil Rights” of all Americans. Consequently, our Constitutional ideals cannot be countervailed by democracy and majoritarian rule, and they must always be reined in by the constrictions of the Constitution.

The other unstated false premise that Vox presumes is a lack of importance of States within our Constitution. The Constitution was a union of the States, and not just a unity of the people within and amongst the States. As such, the States, and all the States, have an important role in the Federal government. By Vox ignoring this important role, they would weaken the importance of States within our Union, and their solutions would refocus the Federal governance on the metropolitan areas of the country, to the detriment of the other parts of our country. It could also indirectly refocus the States' attention to the larger cities within their State. A situation that our Founding Fathers knew would be fatal to the union of our country. This is one of the major reasons that our Founding Fathers created a union of Federal and State governments to assure that all the States would have an influence on Federal government actions. Vox’s biggest assault on this lessening of State power would be the elimination of the Electoral College, as I have written in my article on the meaning of “The Electoral College”. Their other assaults on the lessening of State power could easily be manipulated to assure one-party rule in the State and Federal governments, with the one-party being the Democratic Party.

The False Solution Problems

The Vox false premises lead to false conclusions, and the implementation of these false conclusions would lead to real-world problems in our governance. A good example of the real-world problems in California, Oregon, and Washington States, as well as other Liberal/Progressive States. These States have experienced decades of one-party rule by the Democratic Party, having been voted in by their large populations on the Pacific Coast or their metropolitan cities. A one-party rule that has led to several political, economic, and social crises in their States, the problems of which are also a result of “The Problem is Systemic Liberalisms & Progressivisms”.

The political problems of one-party rule in these States are one of these States are not addressing the issues and concerns of the populations of the non-metropolitan parts of their States, as politicians can be reelected by almost exclusively focusing on the metropolitan issues and concerns. Ignoring the issues and concerns of the population of the non-metropolitan parts of their States has led to feelings of disenfranchisement of this population. Feelings that in California, Oregon, and Washington States have led to serious considerations of the eastern parts of their states of secession from their State and then the forming of their own State. This has also led to intense partisan bickering in these States, as it has pitted the non-metropolitan parts of their States with the metropolitan parts of their States.

The economies of these states are also a problem. Decades of laws and spending on Liberal/Progressive policies have led to budget deficits and public debt. A public debt that threatens the economic stability of these States. Such severe economic problems that may require intervention by the Federal government (God Forbid). I say, 'God Forbid' in that if these States did receive a bailout, there is no pressure for them to reform themselves, and they would continue on their destructive course unless the Federal Government forced reforms on them. These Federal reforms are highly unlikely given the Constitutional questions that would arise, and from the political pressure on the Federal and State politicians would face for the Federal government to not intervene in State issues. There is also the injustice of having the taxpayers of other States fund these bailouts, as they did not create the problem, but they are being forced to fix the problem with their tax monies. After all, these taxpayers had no elected representation in the State that is being bailed out and therefore were not responsible for the creation of these problems. And as we all know that one of our founding ideals is 'No taxation without representation', and if a bailout should occur, the other States taxpayers would incur taxation without representation.

The social problems have occurred as a result of the Democratic politicians or Progressives espousing “The Biggest Falsehoods in America”. These falsehoods leave the public with feelings of hopelessness that they can ever fix these social problems. These feelings also lead to social unrest and even mob violence, as can be seen from the current mob actions in Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. California has also experienced social unrest in the recent past. Problems that California has tried to resolve with more laws and social policies which have increased the political, economic, and social problems in California.

These problems are a vicious never-ending cycle of Democratic Party or Progressive policies that need to be broken in order to truly resolve these problems. The problems of California, Oregon, and Washington States highlight the problems of democracy and majoritarian rule. With democracy and majoritarian rule, you can ignore the minorities' issues and concerns. Ignoring these issues and concerns does not achieve justice, tranquility, defense, general welfare, and liberty, which are our Constitutional ideals. Implementing the Vox solutions nationwide would make these problems a nationwide problem.

The Vox website solutions have other flaws in their reasoning based on false premises. They also have consequences of their implementation that would impact on our Constitutional Ideals. Some of these false premises and implementation problems are as follows.

The Democratic Party and Progressives/Leftists Problems

A Democratic Constitution or a Republic Constitution

As I have stated in my article, “A Republican Constitution or a Democratic Constitution,” I do not mean a Republican Party or a Democratic Party Constitution, but a Republic or a Democratic political theory of the Constitution. A Political Theory pronounced in the Declaration of Independence as:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”

A Political Theory that can be summarized as ‘First came Rights, then came Government’ because of the consequences of the phrase “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed… “. A Political Theory that was the goal of The Constitution of the United States, as stated in its preamble:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

The difference between a Republican Constitution or a Democratic Constitution is the meaning of the phrase ‘We the People’. Does the “We’ mean an individual person, or does it mean all the people? Do individual rights take precedence over the rights of the majority, or do the rights of the majority take precedent over individual rights? If the individual natural rights have precedence, then you must have a Republican Constitution, while the rights of the majority require a Democratic Constitution. You cannot have both, as each Political Theory leads to a different form of governance.

I believe that the Democratic Party and Progressives support a Democratic Constitution, while the Republican Party supports a Republican Constitution. But a Democratic Constitution can, and is, deleterious to our Freedoms and Liberties, as it requires that our governance to be one of rulership rather than leadership as I have stated in my article, "To Be Rulers or to Be Leaders". Our Democratic-Republican form of government was based on the idea of leadership responsive to the will of the people and the protection of our “Natural, Human, and Civil Rights” and the “Freedoms, Liberties, Equalities, and Equal Justice for All” for all Americans. The individual protection of our rights is of paramount importance to our American ideals. We, the American people, did not want rulers but leaders, and leadership that guides us rather than rules us. Rulership is also antithetical to the United States Constitution, and the balance of powers between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of government that were formulated to assure that we did not have rulers but leaders, as well as a people dedicated to Freedom, Liberty, Equality, and Equal Justice for All.

A Democratic Constitution can also lead to Democratic Socialism in America, which is deleterious to our Freedoms and Liberties, as I have written in my article “Socialism (democratic or otherwise) is Serfdom”.

As such, our Constitution was adopted to protect us from the problems of democracy and majoritarian rule. I believe that a Democratic Constitution countervails the ideals of our Constitution, and as such, a party who believes in the political theory of a Democratic Constitution is not a party to be trusted to lead America.

The Constitutional Question

The Democratic Party and Progressives believe that the Constitution is a living, breathing instrument that should be reinterpreted as circumstances warrant. While the Republican party believes the Constitution is a framework for governance that should not be flexible but can be adapted to meet new circumstances. The Republican Party believes that any changes to the Constitution be implemented by the Constitutional Amendment process, while the Democratic Party and Progressives believe that the Judicial interpretive process can be utilized to change the Constitution. As such, the Democratic Party and Progressives view the Constitution as an obstacle to be overcome rather than a framework to be utilized for change. In doing so, the Democratic Party and Progressives endangers the Freedoms and Liberties of all Americans that our Constitution was established to protect. And it should be remembered the purpose of the law and government, as so stated and written about more than a century and a half ago:

"Life, faculties, production—in other words, individuality, liberty, property—this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it. Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place."
 - from "The Law" by Frederic Bastiat

and

"The Government! What is it? Where is it? What does it do? What ought it to do? All we know is, that it is a mysterious personage; and, assuredly, it is the most solicited, the most tormented, the most overwhelmed, the most admired, the most accused, the most invoked, and the most provoked of any personage in the world."
 - from "Government" by Frederic Bastiat

By the Democratic Party and Progressives relying on Judicial interpretation, we have the situations as outlined in my articles of "Judges, Not Lords" and "The Rule of Law or the Rule of Lawyers". Situations that are contrary to the separation of powers between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of government, and therefore are antithetical to our Constitution. The Democratic Party and Progressives are trying to utilize the unelected courts to achieve their policy goals, rather than convincing the American electorate to support their goals. And when they receive the support of the American people, they are not implementing their goals within the constraints of the Constitution.

All elected officials take an oath of office to “Preserve, Protect, and Defend the Constitution of the United States”. However, with many of the words and deeds of Democratic Party elected officials, they demonstrate no fealty to their oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, as they often utilize torturous and convoluted reasoning to try to distort the Constitution to say what they want it to mean. Torturous and convoluted reasoning that strains credulity to its limits. Much of this goes back to the question of a Democratic-Republic Constitution, but much of it is an attempt of the Democratic Party and Progressives to shoehorn the Constitution to achieve their goals.

Therefore, a party that does not Preserve, Protect, and Defend the Constitution of the United States is not a party to be trusted to lead America.

The Economics of Social Policies

The Democratic Party has earned its label of a Tax and Spend party. The Democratic Party and Progressives believe that the problems in America can be resolved by more laws and more spending on social problems while they propose more taxes on Americans to support the funding of this spending. Rarely do they consider economic impacts or “The Law of Unintended Consequences” when establishing these social programs. Unintended effects which are often negative, which are so stated and written about more than a century and a half ago:

"In the economic sphere an act, a habit, an institution, a law produces not only one effect, but a series of effects. Of these effects, the first alone is immediate; it appears simultaneously with its cause; it is seen. The other effects emerge only subsequently; they are not seen; we are fortunate if we foresee them."
 - from "That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Not Seen" by Frederic Bastiat

The Democratic Party and Progressives often state that this spending will be paid for by taxing the rich, but as I stated in my article, “Tax the Rich and Make Them Pay Their Fair Share,” the taxing of the rich to fund these programs cannot be supported by only taxing the rich, as the only group large enough to fund this spending is the Middle-Class.

The Democratic Party and Progressives often underestimate the costs of these social programs to make them more palatable to Americans. But the one thing that we can be certain of is that government programs will always overrun their budgets and costs, which requires additional taxes to fund. We can, therefore, always assume that the costs of these social programs will always exceed the Democratic Party and Progressives estimates of the costs.

A party that does not properly account for the economics of their proposals is not a party to be trusted to lead America.

The Divisiveness in America

The Democratic Party and Progressive activism is a party and activism that divides Americans, as the Democratic Party it is a party of special interest groups that the Democratic Party caters too, and Progressive activism infringes on the free speech rights of those that oppose their policies and positions. The Democratic Party election strategy and governing tactics are to pit groups of Americans against each other to achieve and retain political power to obtain their goals. The Democratic Party cannot bring us together as I have written in my Chirps of “08/21/20 Bringing Us Together” and “07/24/20 Bring Us Together”.

The Democratic Party’s’ strategy and tactics, and Progressives activism, result in the “Divisiveness in America” as they propagate “The Biggest Falsehoods in America” to achieve their goals. The Democratic Party and Progressives often utilize fear within their supporters and intimidation against their opponents to obtain and retain political power. The result is not a "A Civil Society" but a society that is pitted against each other.

Once they are in power, the Democratic Party exercises rulership rather than leadership, as I have written in my article "To Be Rulers or to Be Leaders". The Democratic Party and Progressives believe that their policy positions are so morally right and intellectually superior that this rulership is justified. But rulership requires a subjugated or subservient people to maintain, and a people dedicated to Freedom and Liberty cannot be ruled as they will rebel against such rulership, which leads to more divisiveness in America.

The Democratic Party and Progressives claim that the Republican Party also engages in divisiveness, but the Republican Party divisiveness is that of Constitutional ideals and not of pitting one group against another group. The Republican Party invites all Americans who believe in these Constitutional ideals to join with the Republican Party, while the Democratic Party invites special interest groups to join with them to achieve special privileges and special treatment for their group. Special privileges and special treatment that infringe upon the Freedoms, Liberties, Equality, and Justice of all Americans, for you cannot provide specialness to some people without making some people less special.

A party that deliberately divides America is not a party to be trusted to lead America.

The Politics of Personal Destruction

The Democratic Party and Progressives, especially in the last few decades, is a party and activism that besmirches and impugns the good name and reputation of those people that oppose their policy positions. They do this by utilizing the technique of "The Three D's (Demonize, Denigrate, Disparage) of Modern Political Debate". The Democratic Party and Progressives often makes an accusation against their opponents, and often without any veracity to the accusation made against them. A technique of personal destruction rather than of reasoned rebuttal. A technique that also increases divisiveness in America. Their goal appears to be acquiescence or silence from their opponents. They also use this technique to get their opponent to defend themselves against a pejorative rather than to allow them to state their opinion. Therefore, there cannot be an honest and reasonable dialog and debate on the issues. This technique also impinges upon the Free Speech rights of their opponents and increases the fear and intimidation in America as I have Chirped on “07/07/19 Fear and Intimidation in the USA”.

The mob actions of rioting, looting, arson, and physical assaults against individuals and businesses are a form of personal destruction. The Democrat’s Mayors and Governor's inactions to suppress these mob actions, and the Democratic Party and Progressives acquiescing, excusing or equivocating, deflecting, or remaining silent on these mob actions furthers this personal destruction in America. These mob actions are also a violation of a person's Natural Right to property. It is also a violation of the First Amendment right of “the people peaceably to assemble”, as any of these mob actions make it an unpeaceable assembly and, therefore, an Unconstitutional assembly. The Democrat’s Mayors and Governor's inactions are, therefore, a violation of their Oath of Office to “Preserve, Protect, and Defend the Constitution of the United States”.

Cancel Culture is also a politics of personal destruction. Cancel Culture is those reprehensible actions taken by some people, persons, or entities to hurt a person, harm their families, and ruin the finances of those that they disagree with. Practiced exclusively by Progressives and Leftist against those that would disagree or oppose them, these actions vary between impugning the honor and reputation of someone, the effectuation of loathing of a person, the actuating of fear of harm amongst those so targeted, and in some cases the actual physical harm or the destruction of property of their target(s). Cancel Culture also had the effect of intimidating Americans into not exercising their Free Speech rights for fear of being targeted by the Cancel Culture. These are detestable actions done by despicable persons. You have every Free Speech right to admonish a person, but you have no right to destroy a person. These actions are also contrary to our “Freedoms, Liberties, Equalities, and Equal Justice for All” and demonstrate the vacuity of the morals and ethics of those that practice Cancel Culture.

The Politics of Personal Destruction is practiced exclusively by the Democratic Party and Progressives and Leftists. Consequently, a party that engages in or does not condemn Personal, Mob Actions, or Cancel Culture is not a party to be trusted to lead America.

Rewriting our History

The Democratic Party and Progressives, and their supporters, have a fondness for rewriting our history to fit their narrative. And this rewriting of our history often places our history in the most negative connotations. The Democratic Party and Progressives depend on the American people’s lack of knowledge of our history, and the passions of the mob, to accept this rewriting.

The danger of rewriting our history is to not fully appreciate the uniqueness of U.S. History in the world. A United States history was built on an ideal of:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”,

as well as “Freedoms, Liberties, Equalities, and Equal Justice for All” that have been enshrined in our Constitution as:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America”.

We have not always met these ideals, but we strived and continue to strive for these ideals. Yet, even in the history of the United States, there were abuses and shortcomings of these ideals. This is because our history was a struggle that had setbacks during its advancement. Man is imperfect and makes bad choices, or is good or evil, or lacked the knowledge or experience of the proper morals and ethics to achieve these ideals. But the United States people engaged in this struggle to improve our society and achieve these ideals. Sometimes this struggle was bloody (The Civil War) and sometimes mostly not (The Civil Rights Movement).

United States history must be taught with both the positives and negatives of our history, and be taught evenhandedly so that we can learn from our history and not repeat our mistakes. My History articles, “Condemned to Repeat It”, examines the importance and a perspective on how to approach history, while my article, “United States History Perspective” provides this perspective on U.S. History.

If we continue to strive for these ideals, and keeping in mind our “Natural, Human, and Civil Rights” we can continue to be a beacon of hope and inspiration “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”.

A party that deliberately rewrites American history to fit their narrative is not a party to be trusted to lead America.

The Democratic Party is Not to Be Trusted to Lead America

The Democratic Party believes in unconstrained democracy and majoritarian rule and is all about obtaining and retaining the power to do what they believe is best for Americans and America, regardless of the consequences to our Constitutional Ideals. The Democratic Party wishes to remake America in their Progressive image that is antithetical to our Constitutional ideals. They are also a party that acquiesces, excuses, or equivocates, makes deflections, or remains silent on the infringement of our Freedoms and Liberties. The Democratic Party is also one that engages in The Politics of Personal Destruction and rewrites our history to support their narrative. The Democratic Party is one that does not believe in the primacy of the individual, but one that thinks that Democratic Socialism is acceptable. Therefore, the Democratic Party is not a party dedicated to our Constitutional ideals. We should all beware of the Democratic Party solutions to the problems in America, as such solutions often take the form and ills of democracy and majoritarian rule. Therefore, for all the reasons stated above, the Democratic Party is not a party to be trusted to lead America.

The above issues are not only a problem of the Democratic Party but of the supporters of the Democratic Party, as well as Progressives that support or engage in the activities as stated above. For if you support or engage in these activities, you are part of the problems in America and not a part of the solutions to these problems. Until the American people can grasp the above facts, and the truth of these facts, we will continue to have the problems as stated above. Until the American people stop listening to sloganeering and start reasoning, we will continue to have these problems in America. Until the American people realize that the Democratic Party and Progressives agenda leads to fewer Freedoms and Liberties and violations of our “Natural, Human, and Civil Rights,” we are in danger of losing our Freedoms, Liberties, and Rights.

For those that would say that we should give up some of our Liberties and Freedoms to secure Social Justice, I would counter that when you place an adjective in front of the word “Justice,” you no longer have true justice, but you have favoritism. Adjectives such as social justice, environmental justice, workers justice, gender justice, tax-payer justice, and voter justice, to name a few, require one party to be favored over another. Favoritism destroys the concept of “Equal Justice Under Law” and erodes Liberty and Freedom to the point where it is a meaningless concept. And for those that still want Social Justice, I would remind you of the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin:

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
- Benjamin Franklin

To which I paraphrase ‘Those who would give up essential Freedoms and Liberty, to purchase a little Social Justice, deserve neither Freedom, Liberty nor Social Justice’. It is not possible to have both, for as soon as you start down the path of Social Justice, you must give up some of your “Freedoms, Liberties, Equalities, and Equal Justice for All”.

For all of these reasons, the Democratic Party is not a party to be trusted to lead America, and indeed, should be spurned by all Americans that believe in our Constitutional ideals.