The Ethics of Democracy
By Randall Holcombe • Monday November 12, 2012 9:13 AM PDT • 10 Comments
“Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.” That quotation, often (but probably incorrectly) attributed to Benjamin Franklin, sums up the ethics of democracy. Democratic outcomes are used to justify a majority claiming the right to impose their will on the minority.
To prevent the unethical exploitation of the few by the many, the American Founders designed a government with strictly limited powers. Government was not designed to further the will of the majority, but to protect the rights of individuals. Democracy’s role was limited to choosing who held political power, and providing a non-violent method for replacing them.
Over the centuries since the nation’s founding, the fundamental principle underlying American government has evolved from “liberty” to “democracy.” At one time Americans thought the purpose of their government was to protect their rights. Now the common opinion is that government should carry out the will of the majority. If the many want to take from the few, the ethics of this view of government justifies it.
After the election President Obama claimed that his re-election was a mandate to tax the rich. Whether the presidential election was a referendum on taxes could be debated, but if the president is right on this, and the majority voted to re-elect the president so that two percent of the population would pay more in taxes to benefit the majority, the president appears to be claiming that the wolves won the election, and now it is dinnertime.
The two percent who would pay more are “the rich,” who can afford to pay more to help out everybody. The message in Ayn Rand’s novel, Atlas Shrugged, is at least as relevant today as when it was written more than half a century ago.
Tags: Books, Budget and Tax Policy, Constitution, Economics, Elections, Integrity, Liberty, Morality, Personal Liberty, Philosophy, Politics, Presidential Power, Progressivism, Propaganda, Taxation, The State 
Our original government not only protected individual rights, it also protected state authority. That’s why each state had two senators who were elected by each state’s legislature. Senators were granted the longest term of office on the assumption that the states would not change their viewpoints every few years.
Federalism died decades ago when the “federal” government imposed unfunded mandates on the states. The decline of federalism paralleled the growth of entitlements and the shift of government from protector of liberties to distributor of goodies.
MingoV | Nov 12, 2012 | Reply
How can President Obama have a mandate to tax the Rich? Over 50% of the adult eligible voters didn’t vote. About 23% of the eligible voters voted for Obama and 22% voted for Romney,with about 1% voting for 3rd Party Candidates. When over 3/4 of the adult eligible voters either didn’t vote or voted for another candidate how does that add up to a mandate?
libertarian jerry | Nov 12, 2012 | Reply
Government is much worse that unethical; government is evil. It obtains this status due to violations of people’s natural rights, my murder and theft.
phaedrus | Nov 12, 2012 | Reply
Not only was Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged” correct, but so were her many other books! If one reads, “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal,” it is like reading a report written a few week before the last election! She accurately documents the impact of the irrational Environmentalists (and their utter contempt for human beings), the inability of the Republican Party to win against the Liberal left (due to the Right’s lack of understanding of morality, lack of understanding of Capitalism, and lack of understanding that you can’t compromise with evil), and the shift in thinking from reason to emotion (which allowed for the delusion of “public good” (Obamacare) to become the standard (as opposed to the rights and responsibilities of every individual). If anyone REALLY wants to know what FREE people are up against, read this book cover to cover. . . And keep reminding others that we are a Republic under the rule of the US Constitution, NOT a Democracy!
Independent Thinker | Nov 13, 2012 | Reply
libertarian jerry just doesn’t get republicrat politics.
If only 10% of eligible voters cast a ballot on election day, any candidate receiving 50.1% of the vote would declare that he or she (or some combination of both) received a mandate from the voters.
That’s the republicrat rule.
Tom Blanton | Nov 13, 2012 | Reply
Oh, and regarding the statist Ayn Rand, the first angry white man, well what awful, dogmatic prose. And what an egotistical bore.
Bastiat managed to convey the most important aspects of the thoughts that Rand and her cult followers claimed to be original with much more brevity and impact.
The bottom line is that when people eventually tire of being abused by the people they select to lead them, they should have enough sense to stop selecting others to lead them and reject the state, whether a democracy or a republic (on paper).
Folks should have paid more attention to old Benny Franklin – especially his skepticism over whether a nation of rubes could keep a republic.
Tom Blanton | Nov 13, 2012 | Reply