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Thread: The Will of the Majority.

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    The Will of the Majority.

    In the past I have stated that in a Democratic society, the will of the Majority is the Law.

    Now I understand that I was wrong -- the Law can be different from the will of a majority. The Law can be different from the will of a 52% or even a 55% majority.

    But can any Law be passed against the will of a majority of 65% or more? Perhaps, the correct phrase is "The Will of a Large Majority is the Law."

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    Quote Originally Posted by CCitizen View Post
    In the past I have stated that in a Democratic society, the will of the Majority is the Law.

    Now I understand that I was wrong -- the Law can be different from the will of a majority. The Law can be different from the will of a 52% or even a 55% majority.

    But can any Law be passed against the will of a majority of 65% or more? Perhaps, the correct phrase is "The Will of a Large Majority is the Law."
    Nope. That ain't it either.
    Call your state legislators and insist they approve the Article V convention of States to propose amendments.


    I pledge allegiance to the Constitution as written and understood by this nation's founders, and to the Republic it created, an indivisible union of sovereign States, with liberty and justice for all.

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    Chris's Avatar Senior Member
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    Rousseau called it the General Will. He believed the state represented it and you had to conform to it to be free.

    Law should be discovered, not dictated.
    Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ― Gustav Mahler

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    Quote Originally Posted by CCitizen View Post
    In the past I have stated that in a Democratic society, the will of the Majority is the Law.

    Now I understand that I was wrong -- the Law can be different from the will of a majority. The Law can be different from the will of a 52% or even a 55% majority.

    But can any Law be passed against the will of a majority of 65% or more? Perhaps, the correct phrase is "The Will of a Large Majority is the Law."
    I think you are missing part of the point . We have certain rights that can only be changed by Amendments .

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    Quote Originally Posted by donttread View Post
    I think you are missing part of the point . We have certain rights that can only be changed by Amendments .
    The Will of Two Thirds can change Amendments or turn them into mere formality.

    I apologize for using wring choice of words -- The Will of the Majority is not necessarily The Law.

    The Will of Two Thirds is The Law.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris View Post
    Rousseau called it the General Will. He believed the state represented it and you had to conform to it to be free.

    Law should be discovered, not dictated.
    Arrghh.. you're killing me here! But I love it. Would you explain further?
    You are wrong about police.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Helena View Post
    Arrghh.. you're killing me here! But I love it. Would you explain further?
    Which one?

    Rousseau was a French thinker who argued that the general will of the people as a whole could be known by the smartest people and was represented by the state. In order to free yourself from the past and from society's many ills, you had to conform to the dictates of the state and the state was justified in using force to free you. It's thinking that was pretty much accepted in the West and can be found in Bush's cry to fight in the ME for democracy and Obama's cry to fight there for humanity because we know better.

    Law? Law is what ought to emerge from the interaction of people in a community, in a place and in a time, in their interests, customs, traditions, religion, trads, guilds, and other social institutions. In it's emergence it is discovered and even written down. The law was above everyone, even the king who was obligated to adhere to it or be dethrowned by the people. That's the way man existed up until fairly recent times. Over time, and you can trace this through the thinking of people like Jean Bodin, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, this got turned around, turned upsidedown, so the king became the law and could dictate it according to his whim, and gradually, as democracy set in, the state and its whim, er, general will of the people, which takes us back to the previous paragraph.
    Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ― Gustav Mahler

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    I'm intrigued by de Maistre's remark that when a people's constitution is committed to writing it's no longer living.
    Whoever criticizes capitalism, while approving immigration, whose working class is its first victim, had better shut up. Whoever criticizes immigration, while remaining silent about capitalism, should do the same.


    ~Alain de Benoist


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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris View Post
    Rousseau called it the General Will.
    I guess this is a much better definition then The Will of the Majority.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mister D View Post
    I'm intrigued by de Maistre's remark that when a people's constitution is committed to writing it's no longer living.
    No -- it can change.

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