The Majority Rules

     Those who are denied power by the electorate often try to persuade that the constitution protects against majority rule. Many even go so far as to say the minority should have equal power and voice as the majority. These same people are the one who cry out in protest saying the majority are trying to take away their rights.

     The fact is that one of the principles that has made this nation great is that is has been a nation of majority rule. Minority rule has led to dictatorships, rule by kings, caesars, communism and socialism. Rights are given to and taken away from the people by the ruling few in minority rule governments.

Our Constitution is based on majority rule. It takes a majority of congress to pass laws. There is no mention anywhere in the constitution where a few can decide for the many.

It Was The Majority That:

*Fought for freedom from England

*Ratified the Constitution

*Voted to ad the Bill Of Rights to the Constitution.

*That ended slavery

*That won both WWI & WWII

It Will Be The Majority That:

*Protects The Right Of All Americans

*Will keep our nation safe

*Will keep our nation sovereign

*Will pass amendments to the constitution

*Will determine if liberal ideas should be adopted

What Has Happened When The Majority Was Silent And A Few Prevailed:

* Slavery was the law of the land

* It became legal to murder unborn babies

* Godless evolution is being forced into the minds of our children

* The Ten Commandments are ordered removed from public view

* Supreme Court Justices make and amend laws

* The Safe Sex curriculum has led to rampant teenage pregnancies

* The teaching that there are no absolutes

* Representatives and Senators who seem to hate our country more then our enemies. 

We must also understand that the majority must not trample upon the rights and voice of the minority. Most ideas and changes start with one person. It was a minority that first demanded that the Bill Of Rights be added to the Constitution, that women have the right to vote and other needed changes. It still took the majority to make these changes. When the majority rules with wisdom the voice of the minority is heard and when right embraced but when wrong stopped. This is the foundation of a nation based upon the principle of majority rules.

 Thomas Jefferson

"Laws made by common consent must not be trampled on by individuals." --Thomas Jefferson to Garret Vanmeter, 1781

"[We acknowledge] the principle that the majority must give the law." --Thomas Jefferson to William Carmichael, 1788

"Every man, and every body of men on earth, possesses the right of self-government. They receive it with their being from the hand of nature. Individuals exercise it by their single will; collections of men by that of their majority; for the law of the majority is the natural law of every society of men." --Thomas Jefferson: Opinion on Residence Bill, 1790

"The measures of the fair majority... ought always to be respected." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1792

"The fundamental principle of [a common government of associated States] is that the will of the majority is to prevail." --Thomas Jefferson to William Eustis, 1809

"Where the law of the majority ceases to be acknowledged, there government ends; the law of the strongest takes its place, and life and property are his who can take it."

"If the measures which have been pursued are approved by the majority, it is the duty of the minority to acquiesce and conform." --Thomas Jefferson to William Duane, 1811

"The first principle of republicanism is that the lex majoris partis is the fundamental law of every society of individuals of equal rights; to consider the will of the society enounced by the majority of a single vote as sacred as if unanimous is the first of all lessons in importance, yet the last which is thoroughly learnt.--Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, 1817

James Madison

In 1787,  he writes to George Washington that the majority "alone have the right of decision."

"characteristic rule" of a republican system is that the "major will is the ruling will."

"....more than a majority of a quorum [would be required] for a decision.  That some advantages might have resulted from such a precaution, cannot be denied.  It might have been an additional shield to some particular interests, and another obstacle generally to hasty and partial measures.  But these considerations are outweighed by the inconveniences in the opposite scale.  In all cases where justice or the general good might require new laws to be passed or active measures to be pursued, the fundamental principle of free government would be reversed.  It would be no longer the majority that would rule; the power would be transferred to the minority. Were the defensive privilege limited to particular cases, an interested minority might take advantage of it to screen themselves from equitable sacrifices to the general weal, or, in particular emergencies, to extort unreasonable indulgences. Lastly, it would facilitate and foster the baneful practice of secessions; a practice which has shown itself even in States where a majority only is required; a practice subversive of all the principles of order and regular government; a practice which leads more directly to public convulsions, and the ruin of popular governments, than any other which has yet been displayed among us (Federalist No. 58)

 .

A Belief That Remained .....And Put To The Test

Abraham Lincoln, first inaugural address, March 4, 1861

"A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is impossible; so that rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left."

In 1937 Franklin Delano Roosevelt Stated

"Majority rule must be preserved as the safeguard of both liberty and civilization.  Under it property can be secure; under it abuses can end; under it order can be maintained -- and all of this for the simple, cogent reason that to the average of our citizenship can be brought a life of greater opportunity, of greater security, of greater happiness

     It was not long after these presidents stated their belief that majority rule protected freedom and minority rule would lead to abuse and anarchy that the majority had to fight to end injustices imposed by a few, It was a minority that owned slaves and felt that it was their right to continue this abomination. It was ruthless leader who after being placed in power who by the power of a few led their nations into war to impose their will on the rest of the world. 

      The leaders knew that when a few rule over the many only the desires and rights of the few be advanced and all will suffer. 

The "Fathers Of Our Country" witnessed what would happen when a minority made the laws. They saw a parliament in England that on the surface seemed to be democratic but the king was in power and could dictate his will upon the people and parliament would concur. The colonies felt the oppression of a few men making laws and decisions that controlled them. Of course the checks and balances that were placed in our constitution protected the rights of the minority along with the rights of the majority (giving the same rights to both but not same power). But the true reason for these checks and balances was to insure that a minority could not rule this country imposing their will upon the masses insuring that the people were the seat of power. Protection for the few from the many yes, but more import protecting the many from the few.

A More Perfect Union.