Article: Should “Majority Rules” Be the Law of the Land?

How to be an American? Well, you have to love apple pie, football (real football not soccer), fireworks, hotdogs, pickup trucks... AND you have to believe MAJORITY RULES!

We love our DEMOCRACY! (Even though America is not technically a democracy. We are a constitutional republic.) When we have questions or controversies, someone will always be quick to suggest that we take a vote, conduct a poll, or survey the people. In some form or another we do this in our families, our civic clubs, our churches, our boardrooms, and government on the local, state, and federal levels.

Majority Rules!

And that principle of democracy has served us well in many ways. Our governments, churches, and organizations are stronger for having some element of "the people" weighing in on big decisions and directions.

So that brings us to the question: Should majority rules be the basis for our the laws of the land? Set aside, for a moment, any concerns about the logistics and burden of asking citizens to vote on every law and every modification of a law. Should the moral basis for our laws be the popular opinion of the our citizens?

I believe the answer is no.

There is certainly wisdom in a number of counselors, as the saying goes. But honestly, it depends on the kind of counselors you have in that number!

Let us allow history to make this point for us.

In the first half of the 1900s, many southern US states passed what became known as Jim Crow laws. These laws were infamous, insidious, and evil. I will describe a few to give you an idea of their nature:

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In South Carolina, black people were not legally permitted to use cutlery that was used by white people.

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In Mississippi, black people were legally barred from all public parks.

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In Georgia, laws prohibited black children from playing baseball within two blocks of a playground used by white children.

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Black people were legally required to ride in separate sections of buses, trains, and streetcars.

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Black people were legally barred from hotels that catered to white people.

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Black and white Americans were required to use separate restrooms, water fountains, and waiting rooms.

Those kinds of laws are almost universally condemned in America today. And they should be condemned! Today, we say those laws were immoral.

But why should these laws be condemned? A careful look into history will discover that those laws were legally enacted by duly and popularly elected representatives of the people. Further, those laws were supported by the vast majority of voters. The majority ruled.

So, why have we condemned those laws? Why do we believe those laws would be wrong now and were wrong, morally wrong, then?

Well, to say those laws were morally wrong would be to say that there is a basis for legislation that supersedes popular opinion. To condemn those popularly and properly adjudicated laws, we must reject belief that majority rules should be the ultimate foundation for our civic laws.

The tyranny of the majority is often a real thing. Often the majority will look only after the interests of the majority. That is human nature, and history bears this out. Not only can we see this in the Jim Crow laws of the twentieth century, but we can see this even more clearly in slavery and the abolition of slavery.

Chattel slavery was the popularly embraced law of the land across many if not most places in the Global West for centuries. The majority of people supported race-based slavery, and most had no reservations about it.

How was slavery overturned and banished in the West? It is true that in some countries you can point to some "popular" support in elections or referendums that abolished slavery, that is not the way the abolition movement began and that is not what fueled it.

The abolition movement began when a handful of people stood up against popular opinion, against the will of the majority, and said this is morally wrong. These abolitionists faced overwhelming criticism and popular resistance, but they refused to settle for majority rules. They risked their lives to continue to cry out for a higher standard and a greater basis for morality and legislation. Eventually, their moral stands prevailed against majority rules.

In many situations, majority rules is a great tool. It is a great tool for civic engagement and for harnessing the wisdom of the people. But when it comes to the foundation of legislation, the ultimate foundation for legislation, we must look to something higher and something greater.

In America today, we face many questions about legislation. We battle over same-sex marriage, transgender accommodations, abortion, legalization of certain hallucinogenic drugs, euthanasia, and more. The easy way out is to say: majority rules. But the easy way is often not the best way.

Let us be strong enough to ask the tougher question: What is right?

Then, let us be strong enough to fight for what is right!

Pastor Noel