Thomas Sowell on the Democracy of Five Wolves and Three Sheep
"The Constitution of the United States, with its elaborate checks and balances, clearly reflected the view that no one was ever to be completely trusted with power. This was in sharp contrast to the French Revolution, which gave sweeping powers, including the power of life and death, to those who spoke in the name of "the people.""
Quoted from “A Conflict of Visions”
Five wolves and three sheep can vote on what’s for dinner, and the wolves may accurately claim the ‘fairness of democracy’ and to be speaking ‘for the people.’ But just because someone believes or claims they are defending democracy or speaking for the people doesn’t mean they actually are.
If we are defining democracy as some form of governing system that represents (and, by necessary implication) protects the people—including (and especially) the minority—then it must be one that places severe restrictions on the power that one or some can have over everyone else.
Any take on “democracy” that views one particular group of people as responsible for all of society’s evils and ills is not democracy, but a conspiracy theory. And a conspiracy theory acted upon is tyranny. A conspiracy-theory-driven tyranny does not speak ‘for the people,’ regardless of how much of the general population it comprises. When one group—be it because of their skin color, beliefs, or tax bracket—can be identified as the source of all of society’s problems, and as a result they are allowed to be censored, criminalized, expelled, or eradicated, that is not democracy, and it isn’t for the people. It’s tyranny, plain and simple. The tyrants may sanitize their tyranny in the name of “good” with multiplied euphemisms about ‘democracy’ and ‘the people,’ and nowhere is it more sanitized than in their own minds. (See, for example, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot historically, and Xi Jinping and Putin today, all of whom have in common the belief that they were/are acting in the interests of public good or national security by eradicating the problem people.) But the one thing it will never be is democratic.
Conspiracy theorists who hold gross prejudices, or who can’t tolerate the existence of dissenters, seek to silence dissent and eradicate the problem group. But those who have a realistic view of human nature and who are operating in the world for how it actually is (i.e., those who are in touch with reality) seek systems of government that put severe restrictions and limitations on the power that any one individual, body, or majority can have over everyone else.