A Question for Majoritarians

Walter Williams takes the possibility of a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives as a point of departure for indicating that our nation is not a democracy, and why that is a good thing. Towards the end, he poses the following question, which more people would do very well to consider:

Most people can be dangerously wrong about major issues. Democracy empowers such majorities. (Image via Wikipedia.)

For those Americans who see majority rule as sacrosanct, ask yourselves how many of your life choices you would like settled by majority rule. Would you want the kind of car you own to be decided through a democratic process? What about decisions as to where you live, what clothes you purchase, what food you eat, what entertainment you enjoy and what wines you drink? I'm sure that if anyone suggested that these decisions should be subject to a democratic process wherein majority rules, we would deem the person tyrannical. [bold added]

Williams also reminds us that the Founding Fathers regarded majority rule as a form of tyranny.

I have considered similar questions before, and long ago came up with my own nickname for the phenomenon of people who support dictatorial measures: the "dictator fantasy (See last paragraph.)." In each case, wishful thinking is involved: Majoritarians imagine that most people think as they do, and "little dictators" think central planning will pan out they way they want it to.

-- CAV