The U.S. people are ruled by the democratic principle under which the majority determines the policies. Majority rule is recognized by the U.S. Constitution.
The same document ensures that the majority is not able to infringe on the rights of the minority. As James Madison noted in the 1780s, the majority tends to override the legitimate rights and interests of the minority group. Two parts of the U.S. Constitution are used as means to prevent the tyranny of a majority: the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Fifth Amendment grants the right to refuse to testify against himself and prohibits the second trial for the same offense. The Fourteenth Amendment gives citizenship rights to African Americans and former slaves and ensures equal treatment of all people.
The majority rule is the basic principle of U.S. democratic government, which rests on the assumption that policies should be defined to meet the needs and interests of the majority. The interests of a minority group are also taken into account. However, their impact on the policy drafting is not significant.
Historically, there has been a debate over the legacy of majority rule as the foundation of policy development.
It is believed that the interests of a minority group are simply not taken into account (Kearney 2003). However, the democratic form of government guarantees equal representation of all groups in governing bodies. Thus, the relationship between majority and minority groups can be defined as a compromise.
From a logical standpoint, it is impossible to draw the policies which satisfy the interests of all people because different groups have different interests. Democracy, on the contrary, is focused on the interests of the majority with respect to the rights of the minority. Thus, the needs of all groups are taken into account when the policies are developed.
Many theorists point out that the U.S. Constitution neither gives nor guarantees human rights, and its initial purpose is to limit and restrict the government (Kearney 2003). In particular, the Bill of Rights is devoted entirely to listing individual rights. From the standpoint of the Founders, Constitution could not guarantee Natural Rights because these rights are not given by the government or the majority group. Natural rights are “endowed to us by our Creator,” and no group of people has the power to give or restrict the rights (Kearney 2003). Thus, what is the purpose of the Constitution? Many theorists believe that Constitution is very effective in protecting the rights of minorities – racial and religious groups whose views are not supported by the majority – from the abuse via majority rights.
The most common abuse of the minority group by majority group was slavery. At the times of slavery, the majority group abused slaves for their own good. The majority rule was used as a justification of slavery, as a justification of minority group oppression. The Fourteenth Amendment prohibited slavery and ensures equal rights to all U.S. citizens. This is one of the most important sections of the U.S. Constitution aimed at protecting minority groups from oppression by the majority. Another example of a balanced relationship between majority and minority groups is outlined throughout the whole Constitution: the government is divided into three branches (legislative, executive, and judicial), and each of the branches having separate powers that balance the powers of the other two (Rabbit 2001). Thus, division of power ensures that no branch of power has a greater impact on policymaking.
Even though the majority rule is no longer considered to be an effective tool to balance the distribution of social benefits and draft national policies, there is no alternative to it. Recalling the recent initiative of the American government to restore security and peace in Iraq, the wide application of majority rule has proved to be only partially effective. American representatives strived to build institutions capable of ensuring equal rights and representation of multi-ethnic groups in policymaking.
However, if the legislation passed in the U.S. under a 2/3 majority rule is considered to be in the interests of the whole nation, the same rule cannot be applied to Iraq because of the opposing ethnicity and position-taking (Sanchez 2007).
This is one of the examples of how American majority rule fails when applied to a highly fractioned nation, such as Iraq.
The International Democrat Union was founded in 2005 with the purpose of finding a method to replace the majority rule with a more viable policy. As DeWeese, the founder of IDU has noted, the Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the U.S. Constitution, simply outlines the rights all people should have (2005).
Neither of the documents provides a clear definition of government, even though the U.S. Constitution states that the rights of all people are guaranteed regardless of what the majority thinks.
DeWeese provides an interesting example of majority rule principles: “suppose the majority of people vote to abolish your business or take your home.
This is called majority rule.” (2005).
Another example of majority rule is outlined by Stephen Crockett and Al Lawrence in relation to the American healthcare system. The authors note that the American government is indifferent towards the needs of the majority as well as minority because the national healthcare policies are shaped in accordance to the interests of drug companies. The Republican Party, in particular, blocks national health insurance programs because they are granted financial rewards from powerful companies (Crockett and Lawrence 2006). Even though this example is more related to corruption in power, it provides an insight on how powerful minority group can reverse the majority rule for their own financial benefits and ignore the interests of the whole nation.
In conclusion, the majority rule is good only in theory while when applied practically, it fails to serve the national interests. The U.S. Constitution is interpreted differently by different people and even though the Founders aimed at creating an effective law, they failed to provide a working document. Numerous disputes over the policies and evident abuse of power by authorities indicate that the values of freedom and equality are not promoted.
References
- Crockett, S. & Lawrence, A. (2006, October). How about Majority Rule on Issues! The Democratic Talk Radio.
- DeWeese, T. (2005). Meet the International Democratic Union. Changing Worldviews Commentary.
- Kearney, M. (2003, February). The Purpose of the U.S. Constitution. Web.
- Rabbit, J. (2001).
- Majority Rules. The Democratic Underground.
- Sanchez, F. (2007). A Simple Majority Rule for Iraq. The World Press. Web.