It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.
— Winston Churchill, November 30, 1874 — January 24, 1965
Many have elevated democracy from a mere tool to such sacredness that the absence of democracy practically guarantees worldwide scorn. Despite the popularity of democracy as a form of government, there is nothing inherently good about democracy. Democracy is a tool and like any tool, it could be used for betterment or otherwise. Keeping that in mind, democracy guarantees only one outcome: right or wrong, the majority wins.
There are many things that cannot be decided through majority vote. I vividly remember during one of my multivariate calculus classes, my instructor challenged us to a mathematical problem. After giving us reasonble time to solve it, he surveyed the class in a way a democracy would. The majority, including me, produced the wrong answer. Upon tallying the result, the instructor announced that “mathematics is not democratic.”
Indeed.
Perhaps, I am guilty of overusing the words “means” and “ends” to the point of banality. Nevertheless, democracy has never been the end and will never be the end. Many advocates of democracy confuse the ends and means of a society. A tool — democracy — can never be the end and there can be no question about that, especially to liberals.
While democracy has been associated with liberalism in modern times, it had not always been the case. Early liberals were suspicious of democracy; Voltaire for instance preferred monarchy instead of democracy. There were many reasons for distrusting democracy. One is the possible disrespect of individual liberty by the majority; tyranny of the majority, so to speak.
A murder is still a crime regardless whatever the masses say. Transgression of liberty is still wrong, regardless what the majority thinks.
In liberalism, participation in a society does not signal a surrender of individual rights to the society. Participation in a democracy does not translate as the participator surrendering or delegating his liberty to the majority.
The day democracy violates individual liberties is the day democracy stops being an asset and becomes a liability. By that, I am not repudiating democracy. Democracy does have its benefits. And in no way I am expressing support for authoritarian rule. Liberalism does not start from the top, be it human or a supreme being; it starts from the bottom, the people that form any state.
I am simply implying that democracy cannot be used to justify transgression of individual liberty. Therefore, a superior democracy, with all things equal, is liberal democracy. Simple majoritarianism just will not do.
