democracy

Democracy, Communism, and Madison on War

In Episode 7 of “Tucker on Twitter,” Tucker Carlson exposed the corrosive effect of wars for democracy on the actual democracies they purport to save.

Carlson posted his latest episode on Tuesday evening, along with an accompanying Tweet: “Ep. 7 Irony Alert: the war for democracy enables dictatorship.”

Carlson showed clips of six different political operatives, from White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, all of whom insisted that the Ukraine war represents a fight for democracy.

What a joke. First off, pure democracy is just a bridge from capitalism to communism.

Secondly, last I checked Ukraine’s President has suspended elections until the war is over.

Tucker briefly quoted Madison in the episode, but I’ll provide more context regarding what America’s Founding Father had to say of war:

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

—James Madison, Political Observations, Apr. 20, 1795 in: Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, vol. 4, p. 491 (1865)

Democracy and Mob Rule

The Democrats are constantly talking about “defending democracy.”
A little history…
The ancient Athenians, who basically invented democracy, were also the first critics of democracy. Plato, feared mob rule, and argued that the most just republic would be one that was ruled by an elite, educated caste of benevolent philosopher kings. Before the US was founded all national leaders were either dictators, autocrats, Kings or Queens.
America’s Founding Fathers also feared that majority rule might turn into mob rule. That’s why they invented all kinds of institutions to try to keep the majority in check. The US Senate was an example of this. It kept the majority in check by over-representing small states. Every state would have two Senators, elected by the state’s legislators.
However, with the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment, senators were then chosen by the people. Instead of a rotating influx of new senators, we now have powerful career politicians in those positions of influence.
The Founding Fathers had a lot of reasons for wanting the government to have non-majoritarian institutions, and fear of mob rule was certainly one of them.
Thomas Jefferson said it like this: “Democracy is nothing more than mob-rule. The 51 percent take away the rights of the other 49.”