James Madison, Um Gigante Desconhecido na Selva

Excelente artigo de Myron Magnet sobre o grande pensador e político James Madison. É absolutamente impressionante que na selva as pessoas educadas saibam quem foi um sujeito baixo como Marat e não façam a mínima idéia de um gigante como Madison. E, consequentemente, princípios básicos sobre a democracia como o que segue ainda sejam ignorados: Even under free, popularly elected governments, man’s God-given rights remain off-limits to state interference. Yes, the “will of the majority” ultimately rules, “but it is also true that the majority may trespass on the rights of the minority,” and such a trespass on fundamental rights is as illegitimate as the arbitrary will of an absolute monarch. Any rulers who “overleap the great Barrier which defends the rights of the people”—even popularly elected rulers carrying out the will of the majority—“exceed the commission from which they derive their authority, and are Tyrants,” differing from “the Inquisition . . . only in degree.” A democratic tyranny may seem a contradiction in terms, but it can be all too real.
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