>My point is that it doesn't matter what the majority thinks, it matters what's the right thing to do.
Democracy naturally conflates the two and assumes that what the majority thinks, as expressed through their elected representatives and filtered through some of the Republican checks on raw democratic power, is synonymous with the right thing, or at least the legal thing. It does matter what the majority thinks in the US, because our system is predicated on the belief that majority thought should become law.
Maybe it's worth the risk that the majority will choose something wrong, as long as the majority is allowed to self-govern. After all, it's still government for, by, and of the people if the people codify a law that violates absolute moral expectations, but is widely believed to be the appropriate solution intrinsically.
Democracy naturally conflates the two and assumes that what the majority thinks, as expressed through their elected representatives and filtered through some of the Republican checks on raw democratic power, is synonymous with the right thing, or at least the legal thing. It does matter what the majority thinks in the US, because our system is predicated on the belief that majority thought should become law.
Maybe it's worth the risk that the majority will choose something wrong, as long as the majority is allowed to self-govern. After all, it's still government for, by, and of the people if the people codify a law that violates absolute moral expectations, but is widely believed to be the appropriate solution intrinsically.