by Matthew Bransgrove | Sep 16, 2015 | Democracy
When an electorate repeatedly votes for socialist governments until they default on their public debt, their financial affairs must be taken over by a trustee in bankruptcy. This occurred in the 1930s when the Dominion of Newfoundland ran up debts of around $100...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Sep 16, 2015 | Democracy
But a democratic system of government cannot be transferred to other nations simply by setting up imitations of our institutions—we have realized this all too clearly in recent times. For democracy to work, it requires what Montesquieu described as a special quality...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Sep 16, 2015 | Democracy
It is in its dynamic, rather than in its static, aspects that the value of democracy proves itself. As is true of liberty, the benefits of democracy will show themselves only in the long run, while its more immediate achievements may well be inferior to those of other...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Sep 16, 2015 | Democracy
Whenever it is necessary that one of several conflicting opinions should prevail and when one would have to be made to prevail by force if need be, it is less wasteful to determine which has the stronger support by counting numbers than by fighting. Democracy is the...
by Matthew Bransgrove | Sep 16, 2015 | Democracy
Every man and every body of men on earth, possesses the right of self-government. They receive it with their being from the hand of nature. Individuals exercise it by their single will, collections of men by that of their majority. —Thomas Jefferson. Opinion on the...
