3 - Democracy

Summary

Spinoza's Prediction

The Jewish-Dutch philosopher Spinoza (1632–77) predicted that democracy would be guided by and taken over by demagogues jettisoning reason and logic. Freedom for individuals in whatever way it was seen when Spinoza lived would be there, but the mediocrity of rulers would lead to chaos. The elite would rebel against such a system. The people would be confronted with the choice between freedom and chaos versus order and tyranny. Spinoza predicted that people would choose order and tyranny. Men are by nature unequal, and equality among unequals is an absurdity. Therefore, a system which Spinoza labels aristocracy or monarchy, with the ablest individuals in charge, would inevitably prevail.

It is thought provoking that the BBC in February 2017 published a localized breakdown of voting patterns determining the outcome of the British referendum to leave the European Union of 23 June 2016 (the Brexit referendum). The report says that “a statistical analysis of the data obtained for over a thousand individual local government wards confirms how the strength of the local Leave vote was strongly associated with lower educational qualifications. Wards where the population had fewer qualifications tended to have a higher Leave vote.… If the proportion of the local electorate with a degree or similar qualification was one percentage point lower, then on average the leave vote was higher by nearly one percentage point.” History will tell whether the decision to leave was good or bad for Britain, but, as the data reveals, it was decided by the less educated, while the higher educated would have liked Britain to stay. Moreover, those earning most of the money to keep Britain going, including welfare payments, are found among the higher educated.

Six Major Problems

How Representative is Democracy?

Liberal, representative democracy is supposed to produce a parliament and government congruent with the electorate. It does not always turn out this way. Members of parliaments must toe the line to solidify the party's role in blocking legislation across party lines. Sometimes this makes it impossible for the government to find a majority, it overrides the national interest, or prevents members from voting according to their conscience. In the US Congress, members may be regarded as outcasts if they break party discipline.