One notices this little gem at Badlands Blue, the official mouth piece of the South Dakota Democratic Party. State Senator Nancy Turbak Berry, in response to the defeat of one of her "open government" bills, opines "Democracy isn't always convenient, but it's always right."
One understands the spirit in which this quote is offered, and the merits of Sen. Turbak Berry's bills are considerable, but this quote is just daffy. Was democracy right when it supported slavery? Was it right when it supported Jim Crow? How about when it favored prohibition? The mob is a form of democracy, so are lynch mobs always right?
Of course even BB doesn't believe democracy is always right. If they do actually think it is always right, we welcome them to the ranks of those who wish to overturn Roe v. Wade and let state legislatures set the abortion code. But Badlands Blue and the Democratic Party it represents most decidedly do not want democracy to rule when it comes to abortion. As they think abortion a constitutional right, they wish to place it beyond the majority's reach.
In Federalist #10, Madison warns us against the dangers of majority faction, i.e., the raw power of democracy. In Federalist #9, Hamilton discerns the turbulence of ancient democracies:
It is impossible to read the history of the petty republics of Greece and Italy without feeling sensations of horror and disgust at the distractions with which they were continually agitated, and at the rapid succession of revolutions by which they were kept in a state of perpetual vibration between the extremes of tyranny and anarchy. If they exhibit occasional calms, these only serve as short-lived contrast to the furious storms that are to succeed.
In his famous speech before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, IL, Abraham Lincoln argued for the rule of law as a necessary constraint on the sometimes unjust passions of democracy.
Again, one appreciates the spirit in which Sen. Turbak Berry speaks, which is not with an intention to make any deep statement regarding democratic theory. But let us be careful not to confuse the voice of the people with the voice of God.
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