The Tyranny of the Majority

It’s ironic that the Bill of Rights' father, James Madison, believed the document to be near useless. Modern preconceptions have caused many to believe that the greatest threat lies in the minority. The belief that a small cable exists and dominates the majority by occupying the economic resources through the exertion of social control is a somewhat avant-garde notion. This emerging idea is not unsupported, however. History confirms that kings, oligarchies, dictators, and tyrants have repeatedly benefited from the lower classes' labor and vitality. The industrial movement and the rise of the robber baron have only supported these fears. Nevertheless, many activists inaccurately argue that this belief inspired America's founders to solely construct the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to protect the individual from despotic government controlled by a greedy minority. While the founders were certainly concerned about the concentration of power in the few, they were equally concerned that the threat the majority posed to minorities. America's founders wanted to secure individual liberty from concentrated power in the hands of tyrants and from the uneducated masses, who often acted on emotion, self-interest, and instinct. Currently, it seems that the threat has morphed into a hybrid version of the two. A small cable, elected by the majority, is acting in what they claim to be in the interests and desires of the majority. There is a detrimental side effect, however. Elected representatives, who claim the mandate of the majority, have disregarded there constituency and are violating the individual liberties of the minority. They believe there actions honorable, but they have yet to see there transgressions. The populous that elected these representatives will see it soon.

For Madison, the legislature and populous posed, perhaps, the greatest threat to individual liberty. In the wake of Shay's rebellion, Madison and other proponents of the Constitutions were extremely concerned that the emotions of the masses threatened individual liberties as much as a tyrannical king. Commenting on the effectiveness of previous Bills of Rights, Madison stated, "Repeated violations of parchment barriers have been committed by overbearing majorities inevery State. In Virginia, I have seen the bill of rights violated in every instance when opposed to a popular current." Madison foresaw the legislative branch creating laws that benefited the demos or masses at the expense of the minority. While Madison's objections are certainly applicable to America's current situation, he could have never foreseen the calamities of America's current situation. Ironically, Madison and Jefferson's partisan politics may have planted the seed for today's tyranny.

Currently, I live under what I believe the freest government to date. Many historians have noted that Madison also lived under the fairest government in existence during the eighteenth century, the British Constitutional Monarchy. He demanded more, and so do I. The current Democratic administration has developed one policy (Cap and Trade Act) and is working on another that contradicts the very spirit of our country. They have cleverly done this under the guise of a popular mandate. Our current representatives confidently shape American policy because they believe that their constituency has given permission to reshape the economic structure to promote better environmental conditions. Moreover, the Democratic controlled House, greatly urged by President Obama, is calling for sweeping reforms to the healthcare system because their constituency has elected them to do so. Certainly, Americans want policy to be shaped in ways that promote environmental responsibility. Americans truly want healthcare reforms that expand coverage by making insurance more affordable. President Obama recently remarked, “When we do pass this bill, history won't record the demands for endless delay or endless debates in the news cycle. It will record the hard work done by the members of Congress to pass the bill and the fact that the people who sent us here to Washington insisted upon change." The only way history will not note these demands for debate is if this legislation is flawless. There is not a word of legislation that is flawless. The debate may just save us from diving head first into a shallow pool.

In many ways our system is failing in the guise of action. Our representatives are no longer representing our interests, but now they are now selfishly representing their own agendas, instead. The new Cap and Trade legislation is similar to punching blindly at an enemy in the pitch black. Pushes for sweeping healthcare reform are equally unproductive. They are not carefully or responsibly constructed attacks on the enemy. The Democratic controlled House has acted just to act. They are aware that their control is temporary and that their popularity is tenuous. They have hastily passed legislation that will substantially alter the American economy because they believe they have to, not because it is in the interest of their constituency. I urge that we do not act on the whim of emotion, but on the stability of logic and reason. Develop legislation that has a chance to work. Drawing up an environmental plan or healthcare plan on a napkin over a scotch has little chance of solving the problems. The situation is complex. A well developed plan has a great chance of falling short or failing. Poorly developed plans will lead to disaster.

Although this post has singled out the Democratic Congress specifically, it should not be viewed as a partisan attack. This is an attack on the current defects of the American Republic. Our representatives have stopped representing our interest and are advancing their own instead. Our rights and interests are being trampled by a minority that claims a mandate given by the populous. Nevertheless, they are deceiving the demos and simultaneously violating the rights of the minority and the majority by disregarding their pledge to responsibly act in the interest of their electorate. I firmly believe that any logical American, Democrat or Republican, desires carefully crafted legislation that moves to improve societal and economic conditions instead of partisan legislation that seeks to act now and fix it later. The real problems is that politicians are too worried about being politicians and too little concerned about being Americans.