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Comment by macinjosh | Hacker News Reader

Democracy is a form of government, not an ideology. Just because +50% of an electorate thinks something is OK, doesn't make it so.

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I agree. But it does matter if you want to do more then rant on the internet. If there is public support you need to educate people and change minds.

Parent was correctly pointing out that responsibility for whatever troubles the UK might be actually encountering should be distributed as democratically as its form of government actually is.

The form of government that applies democracy is rooted in the ideology that the majority knows best, which is the ideological version of democracy.

> rooted in the ideology that the majority knows best

Let's be careful here, the point in favor of democracy is not that the majority knows best, but rather if that people are to be subject to laws, then those same people should have an equal share in determining what those laws are. IOW, the point of democracy is to give the people what they deserve, and no more.

When people talk about democracies, they almost always refer to liberal democracies.

With liberal democracies, I believe it's more about self-determination or fair representation than who knows best. The point is to prevent tyranny, including majority tyranny.

There can be no liberal democracy without the protection of human rights and the of law.

It's not 50% of the electorate, in the UK it is the plurality (second best plus 1 vote) of 50% of the electoral seats plus 1 seat. That gives absolute power.

Anything can be turned into an ideology, even democracy.

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