In a democracy it is the people who are to have the most political power. No one group (whether a majority or minority group) is to have more power than another. If a vote is to be taken regarding a law being placed that would benefit only one portion of society and not the society as a whole, the law should not be allowed. This is where i believe a supermajority vote is necessary to account for those who are not a part of the group being benefited by the law. For example, a law that gave all white individuals (being one portion of the United State's populations) a certain benefit would not be fair to those off other races. A supermajority vote would prevent something like this from happening as more than the amount of people in the majority group would have to vote to pass the law. With this reasoning taken into account, I don't believe that a simple majority is democratic. The basic idea of it follows democratic ideals, if only 51% of the people can cause certain changes in the way the country is run, then there is still a huge portion of the country's populations who has ideas, concerns, and objections that are not being heard or considered. A true democracy should listen to all of its people and make decisions best of what is good for all of its citizens as often as possible. As a supermajority vote better helps to accomplish this, I would say that it is a much more democratic approach.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
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But if 80% of the country wanted something to happen, is it really fair that a mere 20% can stop them?
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