Introduction

• Author: Craig Forcese/Aaron Freeman
• Pages: 1-8

Introduction

Two

key

principles inform "liberal" democracy

— the

kind

of

democracy

we

enjoy

in

Canada. First, government should

be by the

citizenry,

at

least

indirectly.

Second, government

by

that citizenry cannot become

a

tyranny

of

the

majority,

or as

Oscar Wilde

put it, the

"bludgeoning

of the

people

by

the

people

for the

people."1

Each

assertion requires greater explanation.

A.

GOVERNMENT

BY THE

PEOPLE

As

defined

by the

Oxford

English

Dictionary,

democracy

is

"that form

of

gov-

ernment

in

which

the

sovereign power resides

in the

people

as a

whole,

and is

exercised

either

directly

by

them

... or by

officers

elected

by

them."

In

practice, government

by the

people

is

conducted

via

universal

suffrage;

that

is, the

election

of

representatives

by the

entire electorate,

a

body

defined

by

shared citizenship

and

minimum-age requirements.

The

selec-

tion

of

representatives through

the

electoral process

is

largely

a

leap

of

faith

that having more people involved

in

governance

— or at

least

the

selection

of

governments

— is

better than having

fewer.

Democracy

is

predicated,

in

the

words

of

E.B.

White,

on a

"recurrent suspicion that more than half

of

the

people

are

right more than half

of the

time."2

1

"The Soul

of Man

Under Socialism,"

Fortnightly

Review

(Feb.

1891).

2

"World Government

and

Peace,"

The New

Yorker

(3

July

1944).

1

I