DEMOCRACY AND
MAJORITY RULE Many as
DEMOCRACY are mistaken majority rule. The truth is, this s not so, in the academic world scholars are divided on the interchangeable use of majority rule and democracy. There is what is called
absolute majority rule that is different from
limited majority rule. Absolute majority rule is the involvement of all in the act of
government, while limited majority rule is the involvement of majority few in government.
In this work the author defines absolute majority rule as a government that has a holistic involvement of everybody into process of electing a government, this position could be liken to the original position in John Rawls social contract theory. An absolute majority is when everybody is allowed to take part in the running of the government, irrespective of sex, wealth, educational and any other qualification, save on the ground of mental illness. It is a system that should be able to guaranty a place for every body, aspiration to
elective and political office should not be exclusively reserve for the enlightened and the rich people who can buy and pay for it. In an absolute majority rule, our value judgements should be an altruistic one.
Democracy can also be refereed to as limited majority rule, this is so because it is the majority of the people that elect those that run for election, but the problem with democracy is that those that have the better chance to run for elective and public office are those that have the money and educated people, the majority of the people that are poor or can not afford the money are not given the opportunity to vie for political and elective office. Democracy is all about those who pays the bills calls the shot, the money bags would hijack the process of presenting a candidate for election, appointment of umpires and then play by the rules in the election proper, this is why it is said that democracy is a limited majority rule. In many African countries, educational qualification is a major perquisite for vying for public, elective and political office, the minimum is the American equivalent of high school.
It is a universal truth that it is not only those who has formal education that can administer or has wisdom to lead, example has shown that those who have the informal education are doing much more better in management, Bill Gate did not have a formal education in computers, but he is doing wonders in the management and administration of computers. The great scientists of old are not formally schooled in the field that brought them fame.
What we are trying to establish here is that since democracy has its own restrictions it should not be called a majority government, because its approach is not holistic, it has a greater majority than any other form of government. Hence it is a limited majority rule and not a majority rule.
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