A while back, one of my friends wrote a blog post on his blog titled “Are People Dumb?.” In this post, my friend quoted both John Stuart Mill from his very well known work Utilitarianism, which supports my argument and then he quoted Thomas Sowell from his work Intellectuals and Society, which supports his. It is important to say, that I believe individuals are smart and rational people that make good decisions most of the time, however people (as in “the masses”) are, most of the time, irrational and generally, for the sake of the name of this article, dumb. Now, before you get your pitchfork and run me out of town, let me explain my logic and what the remedy is to fix it.
The reason I think people are dumb surrounds us, just look at what people watch on television, shows like Jersey Shore kind of proves my point. But if you’re still not convinced (although watching Jersey Shore once should be enough) let’s examine what the founding fathers thought about the masses.
The founding fathers set up an entire government that would keep important decisions away from the people at large and put those decisions into the hands of a selected few (while also leaving most governmental powers to the states not the federal government). That’s why the founders put the election of the Senate, the most important branch of the legislative branch, into the hands of the legislative bodies of each state and not into the hands of the people. The reasoning for this is that the founding fathers were aware of the tragedy of history, that history tends to repeat itself. Time and time again, democratic societies have given way to tyranny. The example the founding fathers referred to most was the example of the Roman Empire which slowly gave it’s democratic process to the bureaucrats, the last one being Julius Caesar. This is why the Founders were afraid of the people and how easy it is for them to be deceived by demagogues. Just look at the modern example of Hitler and Nazi Germany and you will understand. In fact in this country, all of the federal encroachments on liberties have been with the people’s consent and approval. For instance the passage of the 17th amendment came from a populist movement of the people who thought the direct election of Senators would be in their best interest, when in fact it would be the exact opposite. Thanks to the 17th amendment, the states did not have a say in any of the entitlement programs that bribed the people into voting for the re-election of the senators elected by the people directly.
Now that you’re good and depressed about how dumb people are and how they will vote for hope and change and then have only lint left in their pockets, there is actual hope. It’s called the Constitution. A return to the constitution and it’s principles of limited government will cure the ills of big government.
Our current system has introduced moral hazard into society where people don’t have to take responsibility for their actions and can instead live on government handouts and the backs of the productive members of society. It is also important to note that I have great faith in individuals and their ability to make rational choices and make decisions that are beneficial to society and the free market; this is why I believe in personal liberty and not government tyranny. With a return to a constitutional government, we can take out the problems of our current system which depends too much on handouts for all and not on individuals making rational choices for their own betterment.
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