Quite a few of the founders would disagree with the statement that there is nothing inherently wrong with democracy. They created a Republic for a reason and as Franklin said, if you can keep it. The founders stressed being created equal, but did not stress the the modern democrat philosophy of egalitarianism.chfaunce wrote:THIS.gunderwood wrote:chfaunce wrote: Namely, that only those with a stake in the system voted. It was much harder to play class warfare because if you weren't going to pay the bill, you weren't voting. Today everyone gets to vote even if they don't pay taxes, collect social welfare checks, etc. Of course they vote to "tax the rich" or for more benefits, etc. They have nothing to lose by doing so.
Though, there is nothing inherently wrong with democracy. However, the question really is: do we give everyone an equal say, or should those with more to risk be afforded a louder voice? We have not chosen the latter. So, it's not really democracy that has failed us, it is more our implementation of democracy I believe.
You don't have to agree with him, but it is a good article/book and explains egalitarianism:
http://mises.org/daily/3071
You might find this interesting (emphasis mine):
Democracy scared a lot of the founders because it always degenerated into mob rule. I suggest we are beginning to learn that again.Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
Widely attributed to Benjamin Franklin on the internet, sometimes without the second sentence, it is not found in any of his known writings, and the word "lunch" is not known to have appeared anywhere in english literature until the 1820s, decades after his death. The phrasing itself has a very modern tone and the second sentence especially might not even be as old as the internet. Some of these observations are made in response to a query at Google Answers. In 1992, Marvin Simkin wrote in Los Angeles Times,
Democracy is not freedom. Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to eat for lunch. Freedom comes from the recognition of certain rights which may not be taken, not even by a 99% vote.[1]
A far rarer but somewhat more credible variation also occurs: "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner." Web searches on these lines uncovers the earliest definite citations for such a statement credit libertarian author James Bovard with a similar one in the Sacramento Bee (1994):
"Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner."
This statement also definitely occurs in the "Conclusion" (p. 333) of his book Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty (1994) ISBN 0312123337
Majority rule will only work if you're considering individual rights. You can't have five wolves and one sheep vote on what they want to have for supper - Larry Flynt. Carol LLoyd, Flynt's revenge, Salon, 1999-02-23.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Democracy
