Tags
David French, Democracy, Donald Trump, Mob Rule, populism, Tyranny
Grumpy Opinions by Bob Montgomery
A republic is a form of government, but a democracy is an ethos. It is “one-man (yes, one-woman, Ivanka!)/one vote.” It is the notion that the citizen is the lowest common denominator, and thus the foundation, of the State. We have, with the Trump Derangement Syndrome plaguing the #NeverTrumpers of various pursuits around the nation (and mostly in the environs of the District of Columbia and nearby) a coterie of people squawking about “nationalism” and “national populism” and various other movement labels that they find repulsive. The truth is, what they find repulsive is citizen participation in the political process.
My disturbance today is caused by an article written by the National Review correspondent, David French. His presidential campaign never quite got off the ground, but he works tirelessly nevertheless for….the cause. He writes the usual stuff about the Fabulous Founders’ oft-mentioned warnings about the dangers of a (pure) democracy, or “mob rule”. But then he goes further with this:
In other words, there is nothing magical or inherently virtuous about the “will of the people.” The people are just as capable of error, just as capable of becoming tyrants, as any tin-pot dictator.
Oh….dear. Nothing magical or inherently virtuous about the “will of the people”? Mr. French, if you were talking about the people who demanded that the authorities give up Barabbas, we might entertain, even second, that emotion. But we are talking now, not about them[…]