I think that the framers of the United States Constitution (and most of the participants in this list) would agree that equality, self-determination, deliberation, and the concept of self-rule, as Prof. Lipkin has defined it, are all important aspects of just government, as is democracy, provided that democracy is subject to certain checks and balances that prevent the subordination and oppression of underrepresented minorities.
My point was that the more one builds all other aspects of just government into one's conception of "democracy", the less useful the term "democracy" becomes, except as a slogan. The essence of democracy is majority rule, and majority rule can lead to oppression, in the absence of republican checks and balances. I think that Professor Lipkin would agree with this, and I admire his project of trying to clarify both the historical and contemporary uses of such terms as "democracy" and "republic". The latter term seems to me to be a better description of the sytem of government established by the United States Constitution, and to represent a substantively more desirable ideal (the common good of all citizens) than does democracy (as majority rule). Democracy is one of several useful techniques for achieving republican government. >===== Original Message From Discussion list for con law professors <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ===== > I don't think anything I said or implied suggests separating >democracy from majority rule. My point was that there are simple and complex >conceptions of 'democracy.' While both include majority rule, only the latter appeals >to moral and political concepts--equality, self-determination, deliberation -- >which explain the desirability of majority rule. These underlying explanatory >conditions of majority rule then in turn place constraints on the precise >kind of majority rule the polity might seek. > > With regard to "self-rule," for me it connects both individual freedom >and collective freedom. When I decide freely I am engaging in self-rule and >when the people decide freely, we are engaging in self-rule. The notion of >"self-rule" functions as a general or foundational term for referring to a >subject, whether an individual person or a collectivity of people, engaged in >governing itself. From my perspective, the fact that self-rule links the individual >and the many in this manner renders it an attractive term which contributes to >systematizing different, but interrelated, aspects of freedom. > >Bobby Lipkin >Widener University School of Law >Delaware
