If the majority decide that you should pay a tax, and you then become obligated to to pay that tax, that's democracy, not dictatorship. That doesn't mean it's good, it's just democratic.
This is an argument that comes up a lot and usually it becomes clearer when this concept of democracy is simplified anecdotally:
If 5 people come to you and take your car from you, most reasonable humans would call that theft and consider it to be immoral.
The same 5 people come to you and say, we're going to take a vote on whether we should take your car and give you a bicycle, but here's the consolation, you will also be included in the democratic process. I think we all know what the outcome of such an election would be. Would you consider that to be a moral or immoral thing?
Just because I'm included in a democratic process which I didn't sign up for in the first place doesn't make it right to replace my car with a bicycle.
Which is why democratic mob rule is a terrible, terrible idea. Removing the checks and balances on raw, unbridled democracy doesn't have a great track record, historically.
_andromeda_|9 years ago
If 5 people come to you and take your car from you, most reasonable humans would call that theft and consider it to be immoral.
The same 5 people come to you and say, we're going to take a vote on whether we should take your car and give you a bicycle, but here's the consolation, you will also be included in the democratic process. I think we all know what the outcome of such an election would be. Would you consider that to be a moral or immoral thing?
Just because I'm included in a democratic process which I didn't sign up for in the first place doesn't make it right to replace my car with a bicycle.
douche|9 years ago