The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

1972 RIGHTS AND PSEUDO-RIGHTS 75A common response to these argumentsis that a majority of the.people have elected the representativeswho have passed the laws;so they really have chosen freelywhere their money and effortshould go. But even on the face ofit, this is not true. A member ofCongress can be elected by 51 percent of the vote. But even that 51per cent is surely going to disagreewith their representative afair fraction of the time. So, beforea candidate ever records avote, he probably has fewer than50 per cent of the voters behindhim. And then, legislation can bepassed with the assent of a mere51 per cent of the legislators,further reducing the likelihoodthat even a majority of personsagree with the decision. So thebest one can say of a representativedemocratic process is that thelargest fraction wins.Democracy Justified in MaintainingThe Rule of LawThe only justification for a systemwhere the largest fraction imposesits will on everyone else isthat such a system has historicallybeen the most effective in curbingand limiting the police power ofthe state. This police power is anecessary protection against thosemembers of every society whowould try to impose their will byforce or fraud on other humanbeings. A government whose policepower is used solely for thispurpose is no threat to any peacefulcitizen, since it may never initiatethe use of force. It only actsto prevent the use of force. Historically,no people has everachieved a society whose governmentstrictly adhered to this function.But the democracies of theworld have come closest; and ofthem, the United States of thenineteenth century came closest ofall. This achievement of democracyis its only justification. If itfails in this function, a democracyhas no justification at all.Majority tyranny is no less a tyrrannybecause it is a majority.The argument that democracyjustifies the various pseudo-rightsis pernicious. It perverts the functionof democracy and further obscuresthe meaning of rights. Inthe end it serves to destroy democracyby giving rise to pressuregroupwarfare.Until these facts are recognizedand acted upon, the present trendin domestic legislation will continuewith undiminished vigor. ~