Recent events in Libya, Egypt and elsewhere

[Gumby]

One need only look at the California system of ballot propositions to see the downside of direct democracy. What a mess.

 

[clifp]

The tyranny of the majority can occur in both a republic and a democracy.

Better to have tyranny of the majority, than a tyranny of minority. Especially as it so often happens in the Africa and the Middle East, the minority consists of a single tribe, or a few families.

 

[samclem]

Better to have tyranny of the majority, than a tyranny of minority.

Ranking of tyrannies, hmm. Persecution of Jews in Germany enjoyed popular support. Slavery in US Southern states enjoyed popular support. Most Rwandans are Hutus, and they just went along with popular demand when they killed ten thousand Tutsis each day for months. Majority rules.

I'm not sure that oppression of people is "better" if it is perpetrated by a majority rather than a minority.

When we look back on tyrannies and oppression, the most egregious examples of taking of life, liberty, and property have been conducted by a majority against a minority (poor against rich, majority religion against minority religion, etc). Government power unfettered by strong restrictions is very dangerous whether leaders represent a majority or a minority. That's why elections in these countries, in themselves, mean very little.

 

[mb]

I think that if you took a long term view and plotted the number of countries and the percentage of the world population living under a government with an "equitable balance" between majority rule and minority rights for say the last 2000 years that it would show a very favorable trend and that the trend is no longer unique to countries with a western European, judeo/christian heritage.

Despite the ups and downs I think that the long term trend is in the right direction. Despite the demographic factors that oppose it maybe it is now the Arab worlds turn?

 

[mb]

Only thing I can figure is that we support the middle east countries by having to buy their oil. What would they do to support themselves if we used our own oil. So to keep peace in the world we let them rip us off.

Well, since it costs a lot more money to find and produce oil in the US than in the middle east our costs would go way, way up and since the demand for middle east oil would go down the Chinese could but it for a lot, lot cheaper.

So the net is that we pay more while exhausting the reserves that we do have and everyone else pays less.

Is that a favorable scenario?