Monday, December 26, 2022
On Small-d Democrats
"I am a democrat because I believe in the Fall of Man.
I think most people are democrats for the opposite reason. A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that every one deserved a share in the government.
The danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they’re not true. . . . I find that they’re not true without looking further than myself. I don’t deserve a share in governing a hen-roost, much less a nation. . . .
The real reason for democracy is just the reverse. Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows. Aristotle said that some people were only fit to be slaves. I do not contradict him. But I reject slavery because I see no men fit to be masters." CS Lewis, Present Concerns
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2 comments:
Of course, the US is not a democracy. It is a Republic. People do vote for their representatives, but they don’t make decisions. The original Constitution had several circuit breakers to prevent democracy: the Bill of Rights; the original Senate; the Supreme Court; the Electoral College. These exist because the Founding Father knew that liberty and democracy are fundamentally incompatible. And they designed a system that curtailed its democratic elements in order to preserve liberty.
The goal of the Progressives (originally a Radical Republican movement) is to increase democracy at the expense of liberty, and they are increasingly successful.
The survival of liberty is problematic because of the wholesale corruption of our elections and the Deep State control of our elected officials. Decisions are made by the Deep State and implemented by the politicians.
Small note: Because "Deep State" usually refers to families and clans over time as in Turkey and much of South America, I prefer the term "Administrative State" to capture the idea of a class interest and recruitment.
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