ConstitutionalDemocracy

Quora Answer : If half a country implicitly or explicitly supports the election of an authoritarian government, should a perfect democracy allow that government to take over?

Nov 18

It's a complicated question.

Should people be allowed to democratically vote for an end to democracy?

I don't think that there is any completely easy and obvious answer to this.

If you say yes, you allow short term frenzy to potentially deny future generations essential freedom.

If you say no, your democracy is a sham.

One attempt at a solution, possibly the best that anyone has practically come up with, is the idea of a slower evolving "constitution" which can be changed, but takes a lot more effort and time to change. So that if there's a short term burst of enthusiasm for authoritarianism, it can't change the deeper constitutional protections within a short burst of power. It needs a longer term, far more concerted effort, that presumably reflects a more profound evolution in the will of the people.

I think that's about as good a solution as anyone has come up with. But I'd like to see other, potentially better ones.