“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.” ― Thomas Jefferson
Mob Rule: "control of a political situation by those outside the conventional or lawful realm, typically involving violence and intimidation."
If you take either of these statements seriously, you have to ignore the actions like the Tea Party and Nationalistic conservative groups, like the one that marched on Charlottesville (where a neo-Nazi ran over a anti-Nazi marcher by driving backwards through the crowd). So, point one, you can't be against the very thing you are for and be seen as credible.
In our country, the mob is ruled by elected officials who try their best to game the system in their direction. The good thing about a voting public is that they can reverse course by voting. That is not to say all things can be changed by elections. For instance, as long as Supreme court justices have lifelong appointments, their rulings can literally cripple one type of political ideology and make it possible for another to rule the roost. One of the reasons that the conservative movement has been so focused on the Supreme Court is that they know things like the Voter's Right Act has not helped their cause. Already voters in North Dakota have seen the harm to voters who have no street address (Native Americans no less).
So the mob rules all the time. As political leaders roil their base and elect people who march in step, the mob decides which way the country will go politically. The problem with populism is the people and their susceptibility to charlatans bearing ideology.
For democracy to be truly broken, all three branches of the government have to be aligned and the ability of the common voter to make a change via the vote made obsolete. If anyone should be worried about mob rule, it is the mob itself.With the mob actually propping up a leader who lies to them constantly and likens authoritarian rule to being a good businessman, it is right that other people would be trying their best to beat back that threat.
Fear not the mob, but fear the mob rulers.
Mob Rule: "control of a political situation by those outside the conventional or lawful realm, typically involving violence and intimidation."
I am a populist with a Progressive bent. I happen to think that The People (aka the Mob) are better served by socialist democratic tendencies than with conservative capitalistic ones. Donald Trump recently said “The Democrats are willing to do anything, to hurt anyone, to get the power they so desperately crave" in Minnesota last week. He added, “They want to destroy.” Jenny Beth Martin of the Tea Party's Patriot Citizens Fund said, “Do I want to live in a nation besieged by left wing political violence and mob rule, or a nation where we are all protected by the Constitution and the rule of law?” in an op-ed in The Hill.
If you take either of these statements seriously, you have to ignore the actions like the Tea Party and Nationalistic conservative groups, like the one that marched on Charlottesville (where a neo-Nazi ran over a anti-Nazi marcher by driving backwards through the crowd). So, point one, you can't be against the very thing you are for and be seen as credible.
In our country, the mob is ruled by elected officials who try their best to game the system in their direction. The good thing about a voting public is that they can reverse course by voting. That is not to say all things can be changed by elections. For instance, as long as Supreme court justices have lifelong appointments, their rulings can literally cripple one type of political ideology and make it possible for another to rule the roost. One of the reasons that the conservative movement has been so focused on the Supreme Court is that they know things like the Voter's Right Act has not helped their cause. Already voters in North Dakota have seen the harm to voters who have no street address (Native Americans no less).
So the mob rules all the time. As political leaders roil their base and elect people who march in step, the mob decides which way the country will go politically. The problem with populism is the people and their susceptibility to charlatans bearing ideology.
For democracy to be truly broken, all three branches of the government have to be aligned and the ability of the common voter to make a change via the vote made obsolete. If anyone should be worried about mob rule, it is the mob itself.With the mob actually propping up a leader who lies to them constantly and likens authoritarian rule to being a good businessman, it is right that other people would be trying their best to beat back that threat.
Fear not the mob, but fear the mob rulers.
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