What may the will of the majority not do in a democracy?

Answer 1

The will of the majority will not represent itself well. In a democracy (not an elected republic) the majority will more than likely be effectively lied to, intimidated, abstain or defer to a will that is not theirs. If 1,000 people are free to democratically express their will with, say, small clay disks, then that is a vote. Take for example the vote of Spartans, in the first large democracy, deciding whether to dispatch gifts to Dalmatia. Most citizens are of the opinion "No, don't send anything" while a minority wish to "Send something." The implications and details involved in the decision are huge, but most Spartans would not even think of them. (Sparta was militaristic, isolationist, and rustic to a fault.) Just as one oligarchy or individual cannot know what is best, the majority of a large group cannot decide by vote what is best either. The prime example is criminal behavior. With so many laws most citizens agree to, there will always be a small minority who disagree strongly enough to act them out. The larger minorities may not break laws, but become disenfranchised to the point that they lose respect for other individuals in the democracy. This lack of respect can lead to everything from an angry letter, petitions, protest, or rarely in democracies -civil war. Majority rule makes the minority the ruled in a lawful society. So the will of the majority may or should not make laws too harsh. The will of the majority should not take away the minority's right to debate and vote. The will of the majority should not decide to details: if a gift were decided on it would require some citizens to remain quiet or else debate for hours over how something will be given. The majority should also not elect unrepresentative Representatives, in a real democracy. Here are two Youtubes on modern manipulation of the majority's will: http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=24vvozhcsJY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnYZVNVqBgU