Democracy is not Liberty

They say in America, "We're a Republic, not a Democracy". Or at least those within the freedom movement do.


(Image: Yes, democracy may be in distress, but if that's all you've got left then I'd be a lot more concerned about the loss of liberty.)

But in Britain, and more broadly throughout Europe, the word 'democracy' is actually used as a substitute for 'liberty'. This is done so casually that people don't understand that the two aren't the same, in fact they are totally incompatible with each other.

"That's highly undemocratic and un-British".
"The principles of democracy our nation is rooted in"
"In a free and democratic nation"

I'm not quoting anyone in particular there, but it's these kind of statements that really annoy me.

Democracy means Rule of the Majority. Fifty-one percent is king, and whatever it says, gets done. This is a Tyranny of the Majority, not much different to monarchial or dictatorial tyranny.

"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


(Image: While I commend "Democracy Now", I'd rather have Liberty Now, thanks.)

So, what happens when this great value, Democracy, is practiced by a nation?

Let's take the issue of taxes. Now, say government this year has spent a little more than their budget allowed, and faces an angry electorate. In a state of democracy, however, they have an ace card up their sleeve. They can say that all their big expensive programs help the poor, and that people should want to pay for them. They can then scapegoat the rich (not that I particularly like the rich, by the way) and they can run on the platform that the rich will pay more tax, thus funding their wasteful schemes and corruption.

Often the result of this is a web of intricate corruption between tax-evading wealthy people, businesses and big government departments that supposedly 'regulate' and 'stabilise' the economy. (Orwellian bs alert! They destabilise things!) This is economic fascism, which is the system we live under today (some fools think this is capitalism, and therefore capitalism is the problem and we need more socialism. They'll never learn.)

The point is, democracy always tends towards tyranny because people are always going to vote for free money for themselves. The really rich always find ways around paying the high taxes (it's called corruption - the more government, the more regulation and taxation, the more you will see corruption and tax evasion). So who foots the bill? Why, it's the middle classes of course! The very people who are about to disappear from the Western World, which is a shame because they are the heartbeat of any productive economy. They run businesses etc.

So, if democracy isn't liberty, what is?



"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government." - again from that genius Thomas Jefferson

Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.

What does that mean? That each individual has inalienable rights that cannot be voted upon. I believe these are basically fourfold: Life, Civil Liberty, Property, and the Right to Violence purely in the name of defending the previous rights. These can be further subdivided, for example civil liberty breaks down into right to due process under law, right to move freely, right to free speech, right to work by choice, and so on.

In the case of taxation above, liberty would be either no mandatory taxes (maximum liberty), or flat taxes for all (reasonable liberty) which prevents scapegoating of one class nor another. Nobody should be subject to unfair, unproportional taxation, which severely violates their right to property and equality of opportunity.

And no, I'm not suggesting the rich are victims - but if there was no government and central bank controlled economic fascism, I suspect many of their businesses, eg Walmart or any high-street bank, wouldn't be successes like they have been. So the mega-rich wouldn't be so well off under capitalism after all, despite what the brainwashed socialist 'for the people' types say.

Really, all taxation is a violation of the right to property. But it is true that any and all government that has ever existed has violated individual sovereignty to an extent.

This is why the US Declaration of Independence states that only when a long chain of usurpations occurs, such that absolute tyranny is to be put upon the people, should rebellion occur, as human nature causes people to put up with certain small degrees of tyranny. (how's that for paraphrasing? lol)

Pure democracy leaves everything a possibility; if fifty-one percent says you have to jump, your only response can be, "how high?"

Escaping this delusion is paramount to Britain rediscovering liberty. And no, things other than democracy are not necessarily dictatorship. Like left-right, this is another false paradigm (democracy-dictatorship) that must be broken.

Democracy is a mirage of freedom, and the enemy of people who want to be free. I'm not saying we shouldn't elect leaders by vote, I'm saying that first and foremost there should be a set of lines in the sand across which government may not pass, then within these confines we can have democratic processes and a government by, for, and of the people (a Republic).

It's un-PC but it's the truth: Down with Democracy, Long live Liberty!