> I give my consent to be governed by people with whom I disagree, so long as > they are elected by legal democratic means.
I doubt very much anyone ever asked you (who had the will and power to change it) if it was okay that you were governed by the system in place. And absent that you haven't had the opportunity to give consent. At best you're accepting of the current system. Modern Democracy is more than just voting for government, the term and concept is generally used to encompass social orders that include rule by law and institutionalised consideration for individual rights as well as the mechanism of electing government. The philosophy it represents is generally thought to be that the only proper authority to govern is derived from the consent of governed (as opposed to ancient claims by monarchs and the like to derive authority from Gods or right of force). That consent supposedly obtained from the majority in free competition in elections. But the 'consent' in that concept is a different thing than the literal consent that is given by one person to another. Perhaps you refer to the philosophical concept of popular consent to govern and not a more literal meaning? _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
