Can Too Much Democracy Be a Bad Thing - Essay Example

Even people, that belong to one family and share the same genes frequently disagree with one another over petty matters and often fight. Thus, if people can have such a hilarious argument on the level of a family, what would happen if everybody stood up and started uttering rubbish without even having a complete sense and understanding of the underlying factors that caused the government to move in a certain direction? Besides, the fact that the single most significant driving factor of democracy is the majority encapsulates many threats to society as a whole. This means that any community or group can expand by making its representatives grow in number and can thus, decide for all of the other communities that are in minorities. There is no doubt in the fact that in a democratic setup, the opposition also assumes a lot of power but not as much as the people representing the majority do. Aristotle explains the problems resulting from excessive democracy in these words:

For while one or a few can be outstandingly virtuous, it is difficult for a larger number to be accomplished in every virtue, but it can be so in military virtue in particular … tyranny is rule by one person for the benefit of the monarch, oligarchy is for the benefit of the rich, and democracy is for the benefit of the poor. But none is for their common profit. (Aristotle cited in Nef 3).

Too much democracy is extremely harmful to liberty. Liberty signifies the degree to which an individual can take independent decisions without much interference from society or the government. In such a society, businesses are not quite accountable for their actions to the people or the state because liberalism provides them with the right to do their job without external influence. When democracy becomes strong beyond limits, it challenges liberalism because every individual in society has to respect the decision of the majority. Too much democracy subdues an individual’s right to think independently because every action that is decided to be taken has to gain the approval of the majority to materialize. The more the democracy, the greater the power of the majority and the weaker the individual becomes in the society. In an ideal setup, there has to be a balance between democracy and liberty so that people may have room to grow as individuals.