Our democracy is at stake, and it's about time!
When Democrat politicians say they are “fighting for our democracy,” what they really mean is they are fighting for majority rules. As conservatives, we have a higher standard than that.
In a fund-raising trip to Utah last year, Joe Biden claimed that President Trump and his voters are pushing our country to the brink. “Our democracy is at stake,” he said. Of course he wasn’t the first to say that. Do a quick search for those words in quotation marks and you’ll see thousands of results, including Jack Black’s embarrassing appearance at a recent Joe Biden fundraiser.
Is democracy really at stake as the Democrats claim? I sure hope so.
Democracy, simply put, is rule by the majority.1 An example of democracy in action might be a lynch mob. That’s rule by the majority. “There’s only one dissenting vote, and he’s at the end of a rope.” The Rwandan genocide was conceived by Rwanda's majority Hutu population who tried to exterminate the minority Tutsi population.2 So genocide is an example of what can happen under majority rule democracy. Even China calls itself a democracy3, and if the definition we use is simply majority rule, are they wrong? The communist party has a firm majority.
Clearly, rule by the majority is dangerous. Yet Democrats seem quite fond of it and employ it with gusto.
In an attempt to make it easier for districts to pass school bonds, for instance, Democrats in Washington state have been trying to lower the vote threshold to 50%. Michelle Nims, a former president of Washington state Parent-Teacher Association, bemoaned, “A minority of voters is being allowed to prevent school districts from addressing student safety” etc. 4
That minority of voters has good reason to vote against a school bond. That minority of voters is made up of homeowners who will have to pay thousands of extra dollars out-of-pocket over the years for increased property taxes if a school bond is passed. That minority is also likely wise to the way that school bonds work. See my article about Tacoma’s recent school bond that passed under questionable circumstances. In the case of school bonds, the minority has more at stake than the majority. Therefore, doesn’t the minority have the right not to be pushed around by the majority?
Protecting minorities from the majority is exactly what America’s system of government was set up to do. That’s why we have a republic, not a democracy! “A republic is a limited democracy. It’s a form of government based upon the principle of limited majority rule. Limited so that the minority, even a minority of one, can be protected against the whims and passions of the majority” (see footnote 1).
In Washington state, the whims and passions of the Democrat majority run roughshod over the rights of minorities.
Washington state Democrats have had a majority in the House and Senate for years. And they have not been shy about using that majority to steam roll their agenda against the wishes of Republicans. In 2024, Democrats used their majority to push through—That is, Dems voted unanimously for and Republicans voted unanimously against—legislation that could let sex offenders off community supervision, reduce prison sentences for dangerous offenders, shut down rural hospitals if they don’t want to provide sex-change surgeries or abortions, and give the governor power to decertify county sheriffs. Note that most sheriffs are elected by the people and have been sworn to uphold and protect our constitutional rights against the abuses of others.
The Democrats’ abuse of majority rule has gotten so bad in Washington state that people have to resort to the citizens’ initiative process to get common-sense legislation passed. “State lawmakers have only enacted citizen initiatives about a half-dozen times during the past 110 years, according to the secretary of state’s office.” 5 There were half a dozen citizen initiatives in 2024 alone. Democrats are simply not listening to their constituents.
I would like to think that most Democrats are just not aware of how oppressive their own party has become. But Democrat politicians most certainly do know what’s happening. Majority rules, Dems are a majority, and by George they’re going to use it!
Heaven help us if they get the supermajorities they hope for in 2024.
When Democrat politicians say they are “fighting for our democracy,” what they really mean is they are fighting for their right to squelch minority voices who do not toe the party line.
And how do you protect the minority from the majority? You right down a set of rules on a sheet of paper. You say this we can do. That we can’t do. At the top of the paper, you write the word Constitution. And everyone agrees to follow the rules no matter what the temptation.1
Vote Republican this year. It’s clear our Constitutional Republic is at stake!
https://x.com/i/status/1807519081136042346
https://www.britannica.com/event/Rwanda-genocide-of-1994
https://thediplomat.com/2021/12/why-is-china-insisting-it-is-a-democracy/
https://www.chronline.com/stories/proposed-law-would-lower-washington-school-bond-election-threshold-to-55,332780
https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2024/03/04/washington-legislature-voting-on-three-citizen-initiatives/
Thank you for this.