In 1831 Alexis de Tocqueville, along with his companion Gustave de Beaumont, traveled from France to the United States for the purpose of—ironically—studying the U. S. prison system. Democracy in America, the book in which he recorded his observations from his 9 month tour, has provided a background for many discussions about democracy even to this day.
In Democracy in America, de Tocqueville raises the possibility of a tyranny of the majority under democratic forms of government. Although he saw a risk of that form of tyranny in the U. S., he also observed elements of the republic structure of the United State form of government that would mitigate the tyranny of the majority. In fact, he titled one of his chapters “Causes Which Mitigate The Tyranny Of The Majority In The United States.”
Over the years, and particularly in the 20th century, the U. S. Government—abetted by it citizens—has swept aside the protections against the tyranny spawned by democratic forms of government. The concerns expressed by Alexis de Tocqueville and the fears of many of the Founding Fathers have come to pass in ways they could only imagine. We have created the tyranny of the majority of the minority.
With last night’s vote on “healthcare” the U. S. Government Congress enacted another triumph of tyranny. 219 people (in essence only 8 people), not even elected by most citizens, placed further limits on the liberty of over 300,000,000 Americans.
I don’t see this as an issue of Democrats vs. Republicans. Both parties believe in more oppression. We just got the Democrat form of oppression rather than the Republican form. I favor neither.
Contrary to popular misconception, the United States of America does not need “healthcare” reform of any sort. It needs, rather, the repeal of all existing legislation that hampers the emergence of a free market in all forms of care for the sick and needy.
To those who argue that a free market will not care for these people I have two responses:
First, you cannot provide any empirical evidence to support your claim. A free market for these services—or any other for that matter—has never existed in this country.
Second, in a free market both parties win in every voluntary transaction, for every product/service. In any government controlled market the monopoly force of government picks winners and losers. In such a system—in which winners pick the pockets of losers—we all lose in the long-run. These statements apply to “healthcare” as much as any other service.
If you favor any form of legislation regarding “healthcare,” you don’t favor liberty or economic efficiency. You favor the freedom getting what you want and the freedom of others to get what you want them to get. You favor a misguided view of economic efficiency that practices stealing from healthier and more-productive people to support less-healthy and less-productive people. These forms of freedom and economic efficiency will eventually make you less free, less healthy and less productive.
Cloaked in altruism, tyranny and oppression in the U.S. of America takes on a particularly sinister character. It creates the unseen tyranny of one citizen over another.
