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Reflections On The Will Of The People
Oct. 4th, 2011 11:18 amSo, according to yet another poll, the idea of taxing millionaires more is supported by 64% of Americans. Yet, it appears that idea will not even get a serious hearing in Congress, let alone become law.
On January 20, 1920, the United States prohibited the 'manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors' in the United States. Although amending the Constitution requires a great deal of effort, it's not clear to me that a majority of Americans thought that this was a good idea. From watching Ken Burn's new documentary, by 1924 its reasonably clear that a majority of Americans thought that Prohibition was a bad idea. Yet the law held until 1932.
There is a common thread in both these events; namely that a motivated and active minority can override a less-motivated or less-active majority. Some of this is by design - the American system of government is designed to have lots of roadblocks as a means of preventing one faction from gaining too much power. But this is not peculiar to the American system of government - dictators throughout history use this fact to gain and hold power. Obviously, in the case of dictatorship, the "active" minority is willing to use force to seize and hold power, which makes them both more effective and less moral, but even in a peaceful democracy, the process can be hijacked by a minority.
Nor is this phenomenon unique to these two events - American history is full of similar examples, most notably slavery. I don't have a prescription to fix the problem, but when evaluating the performance of politicians, it's a problem worth understanding.
On January 20, 1920, the United States prohibited the 'manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors' in the United States. Although amending the Constitution requires a great deal of effort, it's not clear to me that a majority of Americans thought that this was a good idea. From watching Ken Burn's new documentary, by 1924 its reasonably clear that a majority of Americans thought that Prohibition was a bad idea. Yet the law held until 1932.
There is a common thread in both these events; namely that a motivated and active minority can override a less-motivated or less-active majority. Some of this is by design - the American system of government is designed to have lots of roadblocks as a means of preventing one faction from gaining too much power. But this is not peculiar to the American system of government - dictators throughout history use this fact to gain and hold power. Obviously, in the case of dictatorship, the "active" minority is willing to use force to seize and hold power, which makes them both more effective and less moral, but even in a peaceful democracy, the process can be hijacked by a minority.
Nor is this phenomenon unique to these two events - American history is full of similar examples, most notably slavery. I don't have a prescription to fix the problem, but when evaluating the performance of politicians, it's a problem worth understanding.
