Never Trust Democracy
Ah yes, that tried and true rallying cry: “Never Trust Democracy!”
Ever seen that one before? I hadn’t until I walked into my local police station in Shanghai. I was sitting and waiting for my new temporary residence permit to receive its all-important red stamp, when a woman walked into the room wearing a black T-shirt that read, in big bold letters, “NEVER TRUST DEMOCRACY.”
It surprised me. It struck me as a little bit strange. Involuntarily, I read it outloud.
Nothing wrong with the shirt necessarily. You know, free speech and all that. Just not something I expected to see, especially in China, where people rarely discuss their political views, let alone broadcast them on a T-shirt. I wonder if she even knew what it said.
But you know the most surprising thing about this English-language T-shirt in China? It was grammatically correct.
Out of curiosity, I Googled the phrase “Never Trust Democracy.” You know how many hits I got? Two. Yes, two. For some reason, I thought it would be higher.
And you know what one of the Google links led to? A French guy talking about a T-shirt he saw in Shanghai.
07.01.2004, 1:21 AM · Humor
1 Comments
In political science, “democratic deficit” refers to the situation where laws get passed that thwart the will of the majority (even in a truly democratic society where everyone gets to vote and the vote really counts). This happens, for instance, when the legislative body is targeted by special interest groups. Special interest groups have the will and means to get their agenda passed, even if it goes againsts the interests of the majority. The majority is too diffuse and unable to mobilize itself into a cohesive force, because the benefits of blocking the special interest groups are spread across everyone in the majority. However, each member of the majority enjoys a tiny fraction of the benefit, so it’s not worth it. That is why we cannot trust democracy. See Madison, Federalist #10.