Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
Why the insistance that Democracy is a good thing? Democracy poisoned Socrates, Democracy gave us the French Revolution, Democracy is the rule of the many and powerful over the few and powerless. Why does everyone assume this is a good? Because they assume that the majority will always be on their side?
FREEDOM is the needful thing in question.
|
Democracy is a vague concept that just means "rule of the people." It doesn't imply majority elections. And in any case, the point remains.
This is what I don't get about some gun advocates. I think "i have the freedom to own guns and the government shouldn't do anything about it" is a perfectly valid ethical argument. I don't see why the need to make utilitarian claims about all the ills guns magically heal, especially when there really is no substantial evidence for it. What we know, from hundreds of studies and statistical analysis, is, even when people find an effect of guns on some other variable, that effect is quite small. The best conclusion we can arrive at, if we are trying to empirically determine what effect guns have on other variables, is that they are mostly irrelevant. I think an argument that underscores that, along with the ethical questions around banning guns, is a much more powerful pro gun argument than the sort of magical thinking where they solve everything.