Opening page…
Should the majority always get its way?
If nearly everyone votes to take away one person's basic freedom, the vote was fair and the result may not be.
Your answer
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A little context
Majority rule is the first fair procedure most of us learn. The class votes on the trip, friends vote on where to eat, and whoever loses goes along. It feels clean. It feels less clean when the vote is about you: whether you may marry, worship, speak or stay.
Nearby questions
- Are people basically good?Mencius said anyone who saw a child about to fall into a well would feel a jolt of alarm. Xunzi answered that people are born selfish and only learn to be good. Answer from what you've seen people do when nobody was making them.
- Does anyone deserve to suffer?Imagine that punishing someone guilty would deter nobody, protect nobody and change nothing. Many people still feel it should happen.
- Born on the other sideWhat gives you a stronger claim to a safe, prosperous country than someone born just across its border?
- Is it ever right to break the law?Rosa Parks broke a law and is remembered as a hero. Plenty of people who break laws believe they are right too.
- Write the rules, then be bornYou must design society before finding out whether you will be rich or poor, healthy or ill, powerful or ignored. Which rules would you refuse to leave to luck?
