more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
The paradox of democracy (emphasised by Rousseau) is that I am compelled by my belief in democracy to embrace conflicting - perhaps even contradictory - opinions. If I believe A, and the majority vote for B, I am committed to enacting them both.
Gist of Idea
Democrats are committed to a belief and to its opposite, if the majority prefer the latter
Source
Roger Scruton (A Dictionary of Political Thought [1982], 'paradox of democracy')
Book Ref
Scruton,Roger: 'A Dictionary of Political Thought' [Pan 1983], p.341
A Reaction
The paradox would have to be resolved by qualifying what exactly one is committed to by being a democrat. I would say I am committed to the right of my opponents to enact a policy with which I disagree.
22575 | Ultimate democracy is tyranny [Aristotle] |
5895 | If one despises illiterate mechanics individually, they are not worth more collectively [Cicero] |
13557 | Unfortunately the majority do not tend to favour what is best [Seneca] |
19828 | Democracy leads to internal strife, as people struggle to maintain or change ways of ruling [Rousseau] |
19835 | When ministers change the state changes, because they always reverse policies [Rousseau] |
22394 | Democracy diminishes mankind, making them mediocre and lowering their value [Nietzsche] |
18331 | Democracy is organisational power in decline [Nietzsche] |
23166 | In democracy we are more aware of being governed than of our tiny share in government [Russell] |
23169 | Democratic institutions become impossible in a fanatical democracy [Russell] |
21526 | Unfortunately ordinary voters can't detect insincerity [Russell] |
21527 | On every new question the majority is always wrong at first [Russell] |
23842 | Party politics in a democracy can't avoid an anti-democratic party [Weil] |
7594 | Democrats are committed to a belief and to its opposite, if the majority prefer the latter [Scruton] |