File spoon-archives/marxism-thaxis.archive/marxism-thaxis_1998/marxism-thaxis.9803, message 529


Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 11:12:25 -0500 (EST)
From: Justin Schwartz <jschwart-AT-freenet.columbus.oh.us>
Subject: Re: M-TH: Democracy and the Tyranny of the Majority



If I understand Leo correctly here he says mainly two things:

1) James H is stuck with the contradiction between a purely majoritarian
conception of democrcay, on which 51% rules, whatever it says, and a
string conception of negative rights, on which no one may interfere with
my right to what I want as long as it doesn't hurt others. Leo thinks
these are inconsistent, because 51% might interfere with my rights to,
say, discriminate against Black people in employment relations. That's right.

2) An adequate conception of democracy requires that the conditions of
democracy cannot themselves be subject to revocation by ordinary
democratic procedures. Free speech, universal suffrage, a right oif
association, have to be protected even if the majority doesn't like them
in particular cases, if we are to have anything that looks like a stable
democracy. I am inclined to agree. Of course, the British system doesn't
do this, and still Britain is not notably undemocratic as xcapitalist
democracies go. 

--jks




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