2002-6-11 05:54:00
It is true my friends, that the election process is not perfect and all notice in our political system that elections can be manipulated. The thing to consider is that no governing or selection process is perfect as long as human error enters into the equation.
But what is the alternative to election?
There are three alternatives for an existing nation, group or organization.
(1) Appointment
(2) Seizure
(3) Birth
The main problem with these is that the people subject to authority have no power to remove the leader.
For instance in Communist China the chairman is appointed from the top and the people have no power to vote him out.
Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba and again the people have no power to remove him by any available process. Saddam Hussein did the same thing.
Some of the worst kings and emperors in times past obtained their rule through birth.
It is true that the election process in the U.S. has given us imperfect Presidents such as Nixon and Clinton, but would you have rather lived in this country during the Clinton years or live in Iraq with no freedoms under a tyrant?
To throw out the principle of election because of imperfections opens the door to tyranny. Hitler didn't like the idea of election and talked his people out of the principle and look at what they received as a replacement.
All a person has to do to see the benefit of free elections is to compare countries who choose by election compared to those who rule by appointment or seizure.
The point is that if we do not chose authorities by election then we are faced with an alternative with much greater imperfections.
The imperfections that we have witnessed in the election process come from four main causes.
(1) A lack of accurate knowledge disseminated to the public.
(2) A manipulation of public opinion by those who misuse power.
(3) Encouraging people to vote who know nothing about the issues.
(4) Having so many candidates that an extremist can be elected with a minority vote.
The first two can be solved by an accurate and fair presentation of the facts. The third can be solved by requiring voters to obtain at least a basic knowledge of what they are voting on. The fourth can be solved by having the final vote reduced to two people. This principle was recently illustrated in France when Le Pen (considered an extremist) was defeated by a wide margin in the final run off of two candidates.
As I said, there is a time and place for appointments but for those who will have long term authority over us there must exist the power of the governed to hold them in check and remove them periodically. In the molecular relationship, however, decisions may be made by individuals or the group as a whole.
It might be of interest to look at some quotes by Thomas Jefferson on this principle. I particularly like the first quote:
"Where the law of the majority ceases to be acknowledged, there government ends; the law of the strongest takes its place, and life and property are his who can take them." --Thomas Jefferson to Annapolis Citizens, 1809.
"The only way a republican government can function, and the only way a people's voice can be expressed to effect a practicable control of government, is through a process in which decisions are made by the majority. This is not a perfect way of controlling government, but the alternatives--decisions made by a minority, or by one person--are even worse. Rule by consent of ALL the governed is not practicable, since it would mean that government would be paralyzed on controversial issues. To be just, majority decisions must be in the best interest of all the people, not just one segment."
"The first principle of republicanism is that the lex majoris partis is the fundamental law of every society of individuals of equal rights; to consider the will of the society enounced by the majority of a single vote as sacred as if unanimous is the first of all lessons in importance, yet the last which is thoroughly learnt. This law once disregarded, no other remains but that of force, which ends necessarily in military despotism." --Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, 1817.
"The will of the people... is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect its free expression should be our first object." --Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Waring, 1801.
"The fundamental principle of [a common government of associated States] is that the will of the majority is to prevail." --Thomas Jefferson to William Eustis, 1809.
"Civil government being the sole object of forming societies, its administration must be conducted by common consent." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia, 1782.
"It is the multitude which possess force, and wisdom must yield to that." --Thomas Jefferson to Pierre Samuel Dupont de Nemours, 1816.
"I subscribe to the principle, that the will of the majority honestly expressed should give law." --Thomas Jefferson: The Anas, 1793.
"Every man, and every body of men on earth, possesses the right of self-government. They receive it with their being from the hand of nature. Individuals exercise it by their single will; collections of men by that of their majority; for the law of the majority is the natural law of every society of men." --Thomas Jefferson: Opinion on Residence Bill, 1790.
"The Lex majoris partis, founded in common law as well as common right, is the natural law of every assembly of men whose numbers are not fixed by any other law." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia, 1782.
"The fundamental law of every society is the lex majoris partis, to which we are bound to submit." --Thomas Jefferson to David Humphreys, 1789.
"The people of [a] country [that have] never been in the habit of self-government [will] not [be] in the habit of acknowledging that fundamental law of nature by which alone self-government can be exercised by a society, I mean the lex majoris partis. Of the sacredness of this law, our countrymen are impressed from their cradle so that with them it is almost innate. This single circumstance may possibly decide the fate of [a nation]." --Thomas Jefferson to James Breckenridge, Jan. 29, 1800. (*)
"If we are faithful to our country, if we acquiesce, with good will, in the decisions of the majority, and the nation moves in mass in the same direction, although it may not be that which every individual thinks best, we have nothing to fear from any quarter." --Thomas Jefferson to Virginia Baptists, 1808.
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Copyright 2002 by J.J. Dewey, All Rights Reserved