Originally Posted: January 28, 2017
It’s time to ask: What’s so great about democracy? I don’t mean we should doubt that democracy is the best approach to government. I think we should remind ourselves why it is. Spoiler alert: It’s not because it results in the best leaders.
Democracy is valuable even if it doesn’t always generate the optimal outcome. Governing ought not be done without the consent of the governed; the democratic process is the way we as a people give our consent.
If a democratic government often lumbers along, therefore, with policies that are unwise and ill informed, and even when it elects leaders whose popular appeal exceeds their competence, at least it is a government that rules at the behest of its people.
Consider an analogy with medicine: Even when the doctor knows best, we don’t think she should operate on the patient without the patient’s consent. We think the patient should have a say in what happens to him, even if sometimes his having that say results in his forgoing the best treatment. A doctor’s advice might have all medical knowledge behind it, but without the consent of the patient she can’t proceed. The treatment would lack moral legitimacy without that consent.
Democracy is a way to give moral legitimacy to the treatment we receive at the hands of the government. So, even if you think your fellow citizens have made a mistake in their choice, that alone is no reason to despair about democracy. READ MORE