The Unhinged States of America

Democracy isn’t supposed to be about the mob ruling over the individual. It also isn’t supposed to be about a political pressure group overriding the will of the majority — or the rights of a minority, either. The point of a free country is to protect the smallest minority of all: the individual. Democracy is a means to that end — not an end in itself. In other words, the right of people to vote for their own leaders in no way implies a right to empower those leaders to do whatever they want to do. America was founded as a democratic republic. The republic was supposed to ultimately protect the right of the individual to be free from monarchy, from any form of dictatorship and, yes, from mobs of people who would sacrifice the right of that individual to be  free. This leads to a government that does essentially nothing, and to a government whose primary function — protecting all individuals from physical force — is profoundly important. Legalizing rule by the mindless mob does not make it right, and will not make it work in practice (it can’t). Today’s government is more than adrift from this notion. It’s completely unhinged.