Majority Rule
Majority rule sounds so positive. It rings of democracy. But it has a problem.
Our nation’s founders recognized this problem, and took steps to correct it in our constitution. The Decision Website must also take steps to protect against the tyranny of majority rule.
Here’s our discussion below…
If you are in the majority in a democratic process, then you are in full control. Simply decide what you want and take a vote. The majority rules.
The problem is that the majority can take advantage of the minority. The white majority can vote to keep the black minority out of college. The 51% women majority can vote to force men to get mental health assessments and lie detector tests before getting a marriage license. Oh my!!!
These are absurd examples, but as black people know, not that absurd. Straight people can ban same-sex marriage. Christians could force background checks on Muslims. Public school advocates could do away with private and charter schools.
And minorities are not just race, religion, gender, sexual preference, age, disability, etc. You are a minority whenever more people support an opposing idea. People living in rural America often see things differently than urban dwellers, and so don’t want that majority to rule over their lives. In sole majority rule, the minority position is powerless.
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Our nation’s founders had a multi-tiered approach. First, they implemented a Bill of Rights to protect individual rights, which superseded any laws that could be made. The majority cannot over-ride these rights. In the Decision Website, we need to agree to abide by our bill of rights or even agree to a stronger one.
Next, our constitution guaranteed certain rights to states, to balance with the broader power of the nation. This is the idea that the more local the law, the more likely it will be a good fit for the effected people. For instance, a law made in Wyoming is less likely to infringe on the lifestyle of a rancher, while a national law might disregard the needs of a rancher. The Electoral College also helped states equality in presidential elections.
Representative democracy gave the Founders some flexible options to counter majority rule. Every state has two Senators, regardless of the state’s population. New York cannot over-power Utah in the Senate.
Each state differs in its number of members in the House of Representatives, based on the state’s population. But the representatives are chosen from districts within the state. This ensures representation from sparse rural areas within the state.
Finally, our constitution used checks and balances, by dividing power among the branches of government. While not exactly a check on the power of the majority, it does serve to make it more difficult for the majority to make laws.
Unfortunately, our constitution’s design still has problems with majority rule. The minority black people have been subjected to: slavery (with all of its brutality and loss of rights), racial segregation and Jim Crow laws, and discrimination in many legal arenas. Women as a minority were prevented from voting, and were not given full rights in finances and legal issues.
The Decision Website needs other ways to limit the power of the majority.
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We need to recognize individual rights when we debate solutions in our Decision Website. We might even create our own bill of rights, thereby strengthening what is covered in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. We have gained in experience and the lifestyle of America has changed, so our new bill of rights should be more robust.
Currently our Bill of Rights grants us: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, a free Press, freedom to get together, a right to petition government, and a right to possess firearms.
Our current Bill of Rights also gives rules to limit law enforcement: searches and seizures, detainment, trials, bail, and punishment. There are other rights provided in our constitution as well: Slavery is illegal, and all citizens over 18 years old can vote.
Here are some rights we might consider:
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Consensus is wrestling with everyone’s opinions, in order to come up with solutions acceptable to everyone. Compromise and compensation are key elements. Consensus is the social way to overcome the majority’s tendency to simply do whatever they want. It says to both the majority and minority, “Let’s work together on a solution that works for us all.”
Consensus is a nice idea, but how do we guarantee the effort? If there is no guarantee of consensus, the majority can just say, “Oh well, we tried,” and then vote.
We have control of consensus thinking by our rules in the Decision Website.
To begin with, the debate in the website naturally requires a synthesis of ideas. Writing must continue to consolidate, deliberating all challenges of accuracy, clarity, purpose, and relevance. For instance, a simple challenge of, “It will ruin our schools,” will be forced to explain the how’s and why’s. It will become normal for each idea to get fine-tuned so citizens are able to see the spectrum of opinions.
As the debate progresses and ideas consolidate, we will see conflicting opinions appear. There could even be a clear majority of support for one side. Waiting in the shadows is a technique called “blocking”. It is a way for the minority opinion to demand that their perspective be heard and addressed in the solution.
Right from the beginning, it is everybody’s responsibility to examine all sides and solve those concerns. If the minority do not feel that their perspective is being legitimately considered, they can issue the block. If the majority pushes for a final vote on the opinion, the existing block forces the vote to be a super majority. A super majority says that more than 51% is needed for a confirmation. The higher percentage could be determined by how many are blocking. For example it could require a 60% or 75% majority vote.
The entire process pushes the majority to accommodate the concerns of the minority.
For more on the term consensus…
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Our current mainstream media (TV, newspaper, etc.) divides us. Today’s media works contrary to consensus by fanning the fuels of division. The language they use has a hidden purpose…to fuel controversy. Controversy builds viewership. Viewership results in advertising profit. Media companies with public shareholders (that’s virtually all of them) are legally bound to make profit the highest priority.
We cannot fix these companies. Let them provide entertainment. We have to construct our own democratically run media news networks.
We need a media network that is controlled by the people, transparent and administered by us through a website. Only then can we trust that media’s information. We can even use that media to report on our debates, demonstrating how differences are being resolved, and analyzing how well we are controlling majority rule.
It is the Information Age. Now we need to work on the quality of that information. The good news is that we have an abundance of smart eloquent reporters, who would love to escape the corporate media world, and embrace that search for the truth. This would be the press that we valued so highly by giving it “freedom” in our constitution.
For more on the media…
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