The tyranny of majority
Now that the 2024 Presidential campaign is in full swing, the amount of misunderstanding about how our Constitution was composed – through much compromise and negotiation – is quite alarming. Especially among so-called “progressives” the mantra seems to be “majority rule above all else.” What they do not know, or do not care to know is the Founders were justifiably afraid of rule by the majority and sought a balance.
In our last edition, we offered the idea that Civics should be reintroduced in schools, and not just once. At one time there was a state requirement that Civics be taught to school children, particularly in high schools during the sophomore year. We should go back to that.
It must be remembered the Founders were under a parliamentary system in which the majority party had full rein of policy. We see that today in the United Kingdom, where the Labour Party is now in power and attempting to curb free speech and free expression.
Smaller states, like Connecticut, were wary of the power of the big states always getting their way under the new Constitution, much like the parliamentary system. Things like the bicameral legislature, the House and Senate, were a check on that power. Each state got the same number of senators, regardless of population.
Another example is the Electoral College, where not one election but one in each state determined the winner, with the number of electoral votes based on the number of representative districts and the two senators for each state. Each candidate has electors, and those electors vote for the candidate.
Modern-day progressives, particularly Democrats, have derided the concept as ‘undemocratic” but forget we are not a democracy, but a representative republic that is based on balanced representation and not 51 percent rule. The tyranny of the majority was and is a detriment to the common good.
But it goes beyond the legislative branch or modes of electing presidents. Progressives over the last century have fostered the idea of bureaucratic rule. Indeed, beginning with Wilson and the income tax and fostered by FDR and his alphabet soup of agencies, the federal government continues to grow. This has fostered the institution of a fourth branch of government, which has usurped legislative prerogative under the aegis of the Executive Branch. Thankfully, the recent Raimondo decision by the Supreme Court will dismantle the judge, jury, and executioner roles that many federal agencies (particularly the EPA) have assumed.
The point is, the Constitution was derived under the idea that federal power should be limited, not expanded. Progressives want it the other way, looking for more power coming under the federal umbrella.
A return to teaching the Constitution and the discussions of the Constitutional Convention in an even-handed way will allow citizens to recapture the mindset of the times without the all-to-facile “white supremacist” label. That type of nonsense has no place in real education, but that is the opinion of another editorial.
Citizens must understand the workings of the government and the limits imposed. Recent events have shown an alarming lack of understanding, and, quite frankly, an ignorance of history.