What’s the problem? Have you ever stopped to think about that? Can you make decisions about supporting the U.S. Constitution without answering the question? Why was it thought to be a problem then? Is it still a problem today?
Democratic majorities have no business seizing the property or the earnings of citizens.
Jefferson wrote, “An elective despotism was not the government we fought for.”
Such were his thoughts at the time of the writing of Notes on the State of Virginia. Madison identified two types of faction. He noted there are majority and minority factions. Where do they come from?
He said, “The most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property.”
Majority and minority factions pose a danger to public welfare. They each enviously eye the belongings of others.
With that said Madison considered the majority faction to be the more dangerous. Why? The power of the majority generally curbs minority factions. But how are majority factions kept in check? Nowhere does Madison assume majorities have an unlimited right to do their will. In fact, Madison sought, through the U.S. Constitution, to regulate and control the will of the majority.
Understandings of tyranny
The founders of America held unrestricted majority rule as the principle of ancient tyranny. America’s founders were different from their British predecessors. The English held the belief that tyranny could only come from a single ruler. They could not conceive of people tyrannizing themselves. America’s founders sought to avoid both forms of tyranny. The tyranny of the monarch and tyranny of the majority faction..
America’s early leaders did submit to the principle of majority rule. They did so, however, on highly qualified terms. Majorities, they understood, are not inherently wiser than minorities. Certainly, ideally, society would be ruled by unanimous consent. That is not a practical possibility.
As a result there are two alternatives; majority rule or minority rule. Minority rule over the majority would be unjust. This leaves majority rule as the remaining alternative. The question then becomes how to prevent majority rule from being unjust.
That was the fundamental issue confronting America’s founders. They sought to solve it through the structure and content of the U.S. Constitution. Our constitution has several measures designed to limit, frustrate and thwart the majority. What’s the problem?