Daniel B. Kline
Letting majority rule be our main method of deciding controversial issues has left America as a country with institutionalized, mutually-agreed-upon prejudices. From slavery to denying women the right to vote to our current ban on gay marriage in most states we have made discrimination okay as long as 50% of us agree on it.
The people as a whole make bad decisions. Take a look at the most popular pretty much anything and you can easily see that the pubic should not pick a restaurant let alone decide who can marry whom.
Majority rule leads to "Two and a Half Men," "2012" and Lady Gaga. The people at large gave us the Big Mac, the Snuggie and the universal availability of the jalapeno popper. Letting the masses decide is fine when picking a prime time lineup or selecting a snack. It does not work when we confront vital issues.
People in general (not people specifically) lack the ability to govern themselves. As a voting public we are too easily swayed by our personal biases and most people make voting decisions based on their beliefs instead of actual right or wrong.
Denying someone else a right whether it be gay marriage or sitting in front on the bus because you find the idea distasteful is simply wrong. Even if you believe that a particular act or personal engagement is morally wrong, it should be easy to realize that we should not be making moral decisions for each other.
Put simply, I consider ordering well-done steak, enjoying Jay Leno and using the words "genius" and "Coldplay" in the same sentence as reprehensible. I will certainly express my opinion on those topics, but I would not vote for a law that outlaws any of those things (though Leno does make it tempting).
Even if I believed that some sort of higher power agreed with me and considered engaging in any of those three actions an affront to the heavens, I would express my thoughts but leave the punishing to whatever deity took my side. Never would I be so presumptuous to believe that my particular religious beliefs trumped all others and gave me the right to make laws that prohibit people from doing things simply because I choose to believe that they are wrong.
If the majority always ruled than American Idol would be on seven nights a week, dinner would be catered by Olive Garden and we wouldn't have things like religious freedom, the right to express unpopular opinions or minorities voting. Doing what most people want makes sense when you and your pals are picking a weekend activity. It does not usually represent good public policy.
Elected officials have become too beholden to polling data and enacting whatever policies keep them in office. Real leaders do unpopular things because they are the right thing to do. Sadly, we have no real leaders, just a sorry group desperate to stay with the in crowd even when the majority leads them in the wrong direction.
It goes to the old line, "if your friend jumped off a bridge, would you?" The answer appears to be if enough friends did then there would be a line of elected officials waiting to be in agreement with the majority.
Daniel B. Kline's work appears in over 100 papers weekly. When he is not writing Kline serves as general manager of Time Machine Hobby New England's largest hobby and toy store, www.timemachinehobby.com. He can be reached at dan@notastep.com.
