Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Majority Rule?
Interesting article on Politics Central (link stolen from Instapundit) today; what if a majority of people in a democratic country voted to get rid of democracy? For example, by replacing it with Islamic Sharia law? Nothing like that has really happened before but demographic changes in Europe bring up the possibility, remote though it may be:
Well, or they could integrate but remain ignorant and believe that the benefits of democratic countries somehow come from something other than democracy. Like all identity movements, Islamism is about gaining a sense of personal authenticity through the rejection of what it sees as degenerate foreign influences. And of course, rejecting democracy in favor of racial, religious, ideological, or whatever other kind of purity is about as authentically fascist as it gets. I have little doubt that when muslims achieve a majority in a western country, they will be strongly inclined to vote away the freedom that created the opportunities that drew them there--and then be shocked speechless when it instantly turns into what they thought they were leaving behind in the "old country". Which is where we get into the 'democracy is not a suicide pact' discussion ...but not today.
A few weeks ago, Justice Minister Donner – known for his legalistic approach to most issues – said in an interview that if two-thirds of the Dutch population would support it, the Dutch constitution would have to be amended in order to introduce Sharia law. The immediate broad public outburst over the minister’s remarks was, given their factual and legal basis in the principle of majority rule, surprising. [...] Even then the demographic projections of today would have to materialize, and we would have to assume that all Muslim immigrants in the lowlands would remain unintegrated, rejecting all the great things that a free democracy had to offer.
Well, or they could integrate but remain ignorant and believe that the benefits of democratic countries somehow come from something other than democracy. Like all identity movements, Islamism is about gaining a sense of personal authenticity through the rejection of what it sees as degenerate foreign influences. And of course, rejecting democracy in favor of racial, religious, ideological, or whatever other kind of purity is about as authentically fascist as it gets. I have little doubt that when muslims achieve a majority in a western country, they will be strongly inclined to vote away the freedom that created the opportunities that drew them there--and then be shocked speechless when it instantly turns into what they thought they were leaving behind in the "old country". Which is where we get into the 'democracy is not a suicide pact' discussion ...but not today.
# posted by Stacy McMahon @ 1:49 PM 
