Principles of Majority Rule and the Minority (Essay Sample)

PRINCIPLES OF MAJORITY RULE AND THE MINORITY
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Democracy is defined as a form of government whereby its power is conferred on the people and practiced by them through elected leaders. It is characterized by equal rights and privileges. Democracy is achieved through holding regular elections meaning the will of the majority is expressed( John, 2004). However, this does not meant that the rights of the minority are to be disregarded. The principles of minority rule and majority groups conflict each other if the majority rule is unmovable democratically. The conflicts results as a result of minority views and interests not taken into consideration. Such conflicts are prevented through regular elections, checks and balances and separation of powers.
The means of safeguarding minority’s rights and privileges by the majority rule is protecting the laws on the rights of assembly, speech and petition. Therefore, the majority rule or rights must protect the rights of the majority or else the rights of the majority lose its sense and ends up being dictatorial (Erick 1987).
In US, the rights of minority are safeguarded through the Bill of Rights, which were written by James Madison and adopted as the 10 amendments to the constitution. These Bills of rights elaborated on the rights of the minority against the majority rule. His principles were further expounded by a British philosopher, John Mill, who wrote through his essay, On Liberty, that the sole reason why power is vested to any member of a civilized society is to avoid harm to other members of the society. His principle of "no harm" is aimed at preventing government from being a political and social tyranny of majority suppressing the voices of the minority. James Madison and John Mill principles have been used as the basis for political liberalizations by many countries (Bill of Rights Institute, 1999).
The threat of majority rule is not only disenfranchise of rights or trivialization of the minority but also the mistreatment of the minority based on sex, ethnicity, skin colour and religion. In US, the courts were suppose to overhaul the majority oppression over the minority with time, but, courts found themselves being part of the majority’s tyranny marginalization, at one time the Supreme Court ruling that the African Americans were inferior therefore does not need to be accorded with equal rights.
A clear example of majority tyranny over minority is the mistreatment of millions of African America brought to America as slaves. The 1789 constitution was in contrary to the principles of independence which declared that a slave is composed of ‘three fifth of a man’. After the end of Civil War, the constitution was amended to abolish slavery and ensure equal rights. However, this did not prevent discrimination and segregation against the black Americans. For instance, in the Southern States, the African Americans voters were deprived of their right to vote through literal tests, taxes on polls and property alienation (Erick 1987).
In order to overcome these principl...