Despotic democracy

America was, for some 200 years, a land of opportunity. As I argued in a previous post, it is impossible to construct a government which can compel virtue and excellence in its citizens. The founding fathers instead settled for one which would permit such a pursuit, in the hope that the very opportunity would encourage that pursuit.

Safeguards for all freedoms requisite to this pursuit were established in the very foundation of the country - established so solidly that these freedoms could not be abridged without demolishing the country itself. And yet these requisite freedoms are taken from us, one by one, by a government intoxicated with power and abetted by citizens disinclined to pursue excellence.

America as bequeathed to us by the founding fathers guaranteed us opportunity. (Let's leave for another time the discussion of the evil of slavery, planted by the British, and the abolishment of which was sown at the nation's very founding.) Class distinctions were abolished. Speech, religion and private property were inviolably protected. Education was neither compelled nor denied by the state, nor were curricula dictated. Each prospered as he made use of his opportunity.

We see a different America today: What a man earns is taken from him, and spent on things he has no desire for. His children are compelled to attend school, and tuition is extracted from him. When his objectionable speech cannot be banned outright, it is censored via regulation. When his religion offends, his children are taken from him to be brainwashed. When his property is coveted, it is seized at the point of a gun. He is compelled to share the fruits of his labor with sluggards. He is taxed to provide relief from the destructive consequences of others' misbehavior. When his objectionable consumer habits cannot be outlawed, his purchases are punished via taxation.

Are such oppressions the natural consequences of democracy? Is it inevitable that the majority, when given the power to do so, will plunder the minority? Perhaps. Despotism is found not only in the king on his throne, but also in the citizen at the voting booth.

Nor is "equality under the law" an effective deterrent. The dictator, in his absolute authority, may place himself above his laws. By contrast, we perhaps suppose the citizen in a democracy to be subject to the same laws he makes for others. But is he? Do our laws apply equally to all?

• Is your income seized equally with mine? Or is more taken from you than me?


• Is your speech restricted while mine is not? Or are you more inclined to say things the majority find objectionable?


• Are your children re-educated by the state schools while mine hear the same thing in the classroom that they hear at home?


• Are you forced to pay punishment taxes on your purchases, while my purchases are deemed acceptable and thus exempt from punishment?


• Is your home equally at risk of seizure as mine? Or did your wise real estate purchase make it a prime target for covetous bureaucrats, while my humble home is safe from plunder?

"That government is best which governs least." The will of the majority requires no less restraint than does the will of a dictator. Democracy, however, requires far more vigilance, since its despotic impulse is far less obvious.