What is the majority allowed to do in a democracy – and what not?

#6

“The minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.” – Thomas Jefferson

Dear Friends of Democracy, 

The following question has been on my mind these days: 

Majority decisions in democracy are known to be the most common means of creating laws and rules that are binding on all: Would it, therefore, be legitimate from a democratic point of view to use the mechanism of majority voting to curtail, even abolish, democracy? Because one could argue that the decision for less democracy or no democracy at all is wanted by the (majority of the) people.

Is this question of practical relevance?

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is polling at 30 per cent in some German states. And the trend is upward. So what if the AfD were to win an absolute parliamentary majority in elections? Could it then, if it wanted to, end democracy?

Could it?

At least that can be said: There would be no legitimacy. Contrary to what is often assumed, majority rule is a regularly used element of legislation in democracy, but as a sole means, it is undemocratic. An unrestricted majority rule can be as totalitarian as autocracy. The history of the Nazis is the "best" example of this.

What then is democracy?

Democracy means the rule of all people. The idea that everyone has a say is based on the conviction that every human being has (the same) dignity. This dignity can only be lived if everyone is allowed to determine their own life. This, in turn, is only possible if social rules are not established against the will of individuals but by consensus. In practice, however, finding a complete consensus is not possible. How are millions of inhabitants of a country supposed to agree on common rules without a dissenting voice? That is why democracy tries to give itself rules that approximate this idea of consensus.

What does this approximation consist of?

Individual veto rights against collective decisions are just as much a part of this approach as the separation of powers and the rule of law. Together, they form what is known as the constitution, the basic order of a democratic society.

Conclusion, please

Majority voting is one of many instruments that make up democracy. Taken on its own, however, it tends to run counter to the idea of consensus, which is the core of democracy. Because then only the majority would find a consensus, but a minority would reject it. Only using further constituent elements does real democracy approach the ideal of a society that makes its rules by unanimity. The idea that one can do anything in a democracy with a parliamentary majority is, therefore, erroneous. This would violate human dignity. And, as is well known, this dignity is inviolable.

See you, 

Johannes Eber