Overview
- Democratic nation-states, ‘Social Democracies’, of the world today are systems by which the majority (or at least a plurality) dictates which laws a society will adopt. In a democracy, power and popular whim supersede principles.
- Such democracy is simply the tyranny of the majority, in which the minority is subjected against their will to a moral code they disagree with. This violates the Legal Principle.
- No one may breach the Legal Principle. Individuals cannot delegate rights they do not have, collectively or otherwise.
Democracy does not necessarily equate to freedom.
- Many people confuse the different and often opposing ideas of democracy and freedom. Just because most people have agreed upon something does not mean that what they have decided upon is consistent with a free and peaceful society.
- History is replete with examples of the majority agreeing upon laws that violate the Legal Principle, such as drug laws, anti-gay laws, racist laws, anti-prostitution laws, anti-gambling laws, and laws favoring a particular religion over other religions or non-religiosity. There are countless examples throughout human history where most community members have favored an expression of evil.
- Authoritarianism, which exists to varying degrees in all countries today, limits people's freedom to exercise their good nature, instead forcing compliance with the will of the few.
Local democracy
- Democracy is not always incompatible with freedom. If the majority voted for 3L-compatible laws, democracy would yield freedom. Further, many issues can be voted on that don’t entail aggressing against others, such as when a local community votes to choose between competing reasonable versions of how the legal principle is applied.