How Culture Can Kill Your Vote: The Danger to Democracy

Tocqueville commented on many aspects of American society during his travels through the United States, pointing out individualism, materialism, the devout religious mind in America and other cultural trends that only an outsider could see. Most importantly, Tocqueville saw a threat to our democratic society. He called it the tyranny of the majority.

Basically, “tyranny of the majority” is when the majority of people suppress the minority, and it’s the government’s job to make sure that doesn’t happen. That’s why we have such things like civil rights laws and the Constitution, to protect the minority from the majority. Sounds simple enough, right?

Wrong.

The tyranny of the majority is not a tyranny of political power, or of “chains” as Tocqueville says, but rather a tyranny of thought and culture. The tyranny of the majority does not remove someone’s right to vote, but renders it useless through culture.

He uses the example of a political writer who writes something which the majority disapproves;  the writer quickly finds he has no supporters. He’s unable to gain employment and is cast out from society because of his views. He still retains his civil rights, but is forever a pariah. His fate is sealed when he decided to think for himself. Freedom of speech is allowed so long as the majority has not made up their minds.

Still don’t understand? Think of Orwell’s 1984 and the Thought Police, where the tyranny of the majority encourage you to not think for yourself, but to go with the flow. The tyranny of the majority does not want you to think for yourself and besides, why would you?

They have made up your mind for you.