Comments on: Democracy and Tyranny http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2005/11/27/democracy-and-tyranny/ Life. Liberty. Property. Defending individual freedom and liberty, one post at a time. Mon, 17 Jun 2013 22:29:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Regis http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2005/11/27/democracy-and-tyranny/#comment-87 Regis Wed, 30 Nov 2005 01:13:29 +0000 http://thelibertypapers.org/?p=42#comment-87 I think this is a better way of saying it. :)

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. — Benjamin Franklin

]]> By: tkc http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2005/11/27/democracy-and-tyranny/#comment-78 tkc Mon, 28 Nov 2005 23:40:15 +0000 http://thelibertypapers.org/?p=42#comment-78 As I am fond of saying, “The two wolves and the lamb voting on what is for dinner is a democracy but from the point of view of the lamb, it is tyranny.”

Also, to paraphrase F.A. Hayek, a government that is democratically elected is not enough. The government must be limited too. This comes from ‘The Road to Serfdom’. The essential limitations you’ve already covered.

]]> By: Quincy http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2005/11/27/democracy-and-tyranny/#comment-74 Quincy Mon, 28 Nov 2005 15:24:19 +0000 http://thelibertypapers.org/?p=42#comment-74 Wow… you (I) learn something new every day. Thanks for the info, QTaco.

Also, if you have a better example, please feel free to share.

]]> By: QTaco http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2005/11/27/democracy-and-tyranny/#comment-72 QTaco Mon, 28 Nov 2005 07:56:44 +0000 http://thelibertypapers.org/?p=42#comment-72 A flat earth was never part of of Aristotelian cosmology, and I am highly doubtful if the Catholic Church ever held it as dogma. It certainly did not hold it at the time of the inquisition. The Ptolemaic system certainly included a spherical earth, and a good estimate of its size. (Google tells me some early Christian thinkers did attempt to reject the spherical earth, however they were never dominant, and the works of Ptolemy come to Europe centuries before the Inquisition). Copernicus was an officer of the Church, had his work commissioned by the Church, and accepted by the Church, so it is funny you should mention him. The Church held very refined cosmological views given the data it had, and was collecting, certainly vastly superior to that of the majority of uneducated peasantry. (As it needed to, to make a sensical calender for religious purposes). Columbus didn’t discover the world was round either. It is ironic that you should in attempted to debunk ” a common fallacy”, you repeat some common historical myths yourself.

In fact it is a fairly terrible example for shedding light on the correctness of large majorities, since it involves a) a small elite, b) in an undemocratic system, c) without the free of information (with respect to Galileo) that many consider central to the strength of democratic decision making, d) that gets involve in difficult issues of correctness and proof in science ( a person of almost any intelligence would have believed a geocentric Earth to be a better than the alternative for most of the period you imply, and with good reason).

I do agree with your point that majorities are far from infallible, although in answer to your question “does the size of the group affect its rightness”, I think it does, and mobs can display surprising intelligence. If I may humbly suggest however that if you wish to demonstrate that “the people” have no perfect knowledge, you find a better example.

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