A goverment has four basic jobs: to protect the many against the individual/the few (keeping people from setting up their own little despotic rule-by-the-strongest regimes and victimizing communities), to protect the individual/the few against the individual/the few (keeping people from being victimized by bad actors such as con men, muggers, murderers, and so forth), to protect the many against the many (maintaining standing armies and so forth, and ALSO regulating the commons for the benefit of all), and protecting the few or the individual against the many.
Pure democracy, also called "mob rule", does okay at the first two of these, at least briefly. It falls apart on the third -- and specifically fails on the last.
In the United States, we have an elected legislature for the first two, and an unelected judiciary who are supposed to take care of the latter two.
In other words, "activist judges". If we don't have "activist judges", then we're missing half of our government.
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Date: 2009-07-07 01:20 pm (UTC)A goverment has four basic jobs: to protect the many against the individual/the few (keeping people from setting up their own little despotic rule-by-the-strongest regimes and victimizing communities), to protect the individual/the few against the individual/the few (keeping people from being victimized by bad actors such as con men, muggers, murderers, and so forth), to protect the many against the many (maintaining standing armies and so forth, and ALSO regulating the commons for the benefit of all), and protecting the few or the individual against the many.
Pure democracy, also called "mob rule", does okay at the first two of these, at least briefly. It falls apart on the third -- and specifically fails on the last.
In the United States, we have an elected legislature for the first two, and an unelected judiciary who are supposed to take care of the latter two.
In other words, "activist judges". If we don't have "activist judges", then we're missing half of our government.