How Democracy Can Invite Tyranny

Simply recognizing the vulnerability of democracy is not the same as using a slippery slope fallacy: democracy is philosophically invalid not because of how it might be used, but because of what it is.  Nonetheless, the instability of democracy is worth addressing, as is the potential ease of appointing an unjust leader.  As a democracy gets purer, the country becomes more unstable and vulnerable.  Democracy is often held up as a noble and enlightened form of government, but it offers only the flimsiest defense against the worst kinds of tyranny.

All that is necessary for a thorough tyrant to come to power--and remain in power--in a democracy is the consent of 51% of the population.  No matter how unjust, hypocritical, or dangerous a leader is, democracy offers no protection other than the hope that the masses will happen to change their minds.  Any perceived protection from tyranny offered by democracy is either purely superficial at best or entirely illusory.  While democracy may appear safe to intellectually shallow observers, it is far from safe!

A supporter of democracy ceases to live consistently with their political worldview the moment they think someone needs to step in to stop a leader backed by even a slight majority.  The only truly democratic response when the majority is adrift in madness or powerless to stop the tyrant they placed in office is one of submission to the majority or the tyrant it installed.  Of course, by the time a staunch proponent of democracy sees its folly, it will likely be too late.

Now, democracy is not an erroneous system because of what might happen.  Slippery slopes are philosophically irrelevant to the legitimacy or truth of any idea, even when that idea could be used (or, in some cases, misused) in catastrophic ways.  It is not even the fact that the majority is likely to make stupid decisions that renders democracy an invalid form of government.  Rather, it is the fact that democracy does not determine truth that means democratic agreement has no place in politics, as politics is a matter of applying worldviews to government, and all worldviews are either true false.

Democracy is one of the most asinine forms of government that could possibly be implemented (yes, it is nothing more than the joke that the Game of Thrones series finale treats it as).  As long as a group of people--or a lone ruler--is not intellectually or morally in the wrong, the fears, anxieties, and objections of their opponents are good for nothing more than mockery.  Whether those in fear are in the minority or majority is irrelevant.  In politics, like in all things, the only thing that truly matters is who is in the right.