I was going to review the Economic Constitution of Canada—but I forgot. I guess I watched too many episodes, mooting, and of course, the grand prize, 1L. So that will be coming in the next issue. Instead, I will focus on something controversial that hopefully angers you, excites you, or at the very least causes some chaos. I say that we as a society have become in many ways undeserving of democracy.
Democracy has been defended by various philosophers. Aristotle, for instance, would likely support it because it enables human flourishing. In legitimate liberal democracies, respecting human rights (being universal moral principles) without unjust discrimination facilitates strong negative rights and positive rights. In such an environment, people are able to achieve their goals. Of course, it requires that governments develop policies, regulations, and laws that foster a culture that promotes such flourishing—of which we still have work to do to achieve.
Yet, human flourishing requires balancing individual freedoms with the public good. Consequently, the Charter and various laws govern restrictions on our behaviour. Famous philosophers Harry Frankfurt and Frederic William Maitland point out that we rely on other people to achieve our goals. This is why we live in societies.
With flourishing societies requiring balancing of the public and individual interests, Aristotle and Plato (amongst many others across the political philosophy spectrum) were always rightfully fearful of “majority tyranny.” This makes sense—as we have seen with the marginalization of many groups for centuries. However, we now experience a new threat: The “tyranny of the minority.” I am not talking about marginalized communities or similar, but rather immoral influential parties—whether they are fringe (e.g. People’s Party of Canada) or akin to Big Fossil Fuel. I ascribe such parties as minorities because federal action towards climate change, strengthening health care, some of the most reconciliatory action for Indigenous peoples (even though it still reeks of colonialism) coupled along with overall support for the Charter suggests the majority of Canadian society is ethically good. We would not have these things otherwise (note: I am talking about action not political parties).
These loud minorities’ interests are often inconsistent with prescriptive rights, thereby hindering human flourishing. We have political parties appealing to neo-Nazis, anti-vaxxers, and climate deniers. We also have certain large corporate entities at the other extreme who want to maintain their bottom-line despite their function/operations being inconsistent with the public good. Loud minorities use technology to play on primal fears and prejudices to garner support for their cause regardless of the ethical consequences. Algorithmic social media platforms and disinformation techniques (that need regulation) facilitate minority opinions to become majority ones. A society that practices unethical behaviour (society needs truth and human rights to flourish—how can people function without them?) is endangered.
What does this have to do with democracy? If we do not speak up, then we are undeserving of democracy. When loud minorities infiltrate politics, businesses, and broader society, we complain on social media—and even then, that is an echo chamber of concerned citizens. But that is about it (generally). Democracy is supposed to be in the hands of the people. It is built upon philosophical conceptions of the social contract yet we fail to use our collective power. We also have politicians throughout the spectrum politicizing every issue from health care to climate change—seriously, and yet we fail to do anything…especially on the provincial level. The federal election had a pretty high voter turnout; just over two-thirds of the population voted. However, in Ontario, less than forty per cent voted. Even if you say that not voting forced both the NDP and Liberals to rebrand, we are now sentenced to a fate that barely anyone asked for. If you fail to speak up in some shape or form then you are part of the problem. Democracy is collective, and if we fail to speak up, how are we deserving of it? If we do not take advantage of our democratic power where we have strong institutional methods of doing so then why do we have it?
Democracy is to be, as Locke noted, in the hands of the people. This is a very prized role that very few societies have, especially with relatively strong control mechanisms. But complacency is an insult to this power. We have seen what democratic complacency has done in other countries—it tears them apart. But this raises a bigger question, are humans even suitable to properly govern? I will talk about this in the next issue (if I get the chance) about why AI is better suited to govern democracies than humans and how we can play a role in that.