Madison, Mill's arguments, minority rights
Liberalists are concerned about how societies make decisions on issues that impact directly to the public. There are concerns about the people who make the decisions and how the public is involved in making the decisions. Tyranny of the majority is a term used to describe a situation where the majority in a democratic society uses their ability to oppress the minorities. The people who were concerned with the tyranny of numbers were worried that the issue is unavoidable in any democratic society. The majority are the representatives who are elected through voting by the minority to represent them in government. Electives in the majority may compromise the powers of the minorities.
Democracy requires the balance of minority and majority rights and the protection of minority rights no matter how the minority group is alienated from the majority group. The Bill of Rights once drafted by James Madison protects individual liberties in the United States. Mill furthered on Madison's Bill of Rights to include the rightful exercising of power, in a way, that the majority do not harm the others (minority) in a civilized community. Mill's "no harm principle" prevents the government from exercising tyranny of the majority that is viewed as political and suppresses minority voices and imposes regulations on thoughts and values. These two scholars were committed to achieving practical ends, justice for all American Citizens and
improvement of the efficiency in public policy (Robson, 1968).
[...] It is a matter of interest for the majority to protect minority's rights because it is the protection of these rights that depend on whether they will be re-elected back to power. However, Madison worried about the effects of tyranny of numbers of the executive and the legislature and warned about the oppression of minority by the majority (Banning, 1995). Mill and Madison recognized checks and balances as a realistic feature of the human nature and believed in fairness, self-discipline and reason as the best aspects of people. However, the two recognized that people were susceptible to greed, intolerance and passion. [...]
[...] Many democracies have answered the issue of majority rule and minority rights in different ways through determining how they can compromise each other when applied differently and how they can affect public good. It is imperative to remember that the rights of the minority remain supreme for democracy to exist. Bibliography Banning, L. The sacred fire of liberty: James Madison and the founding of the federal republic. Ithaca: Cornell University press 1995. Madison James. Writings. New York: Library of America John Mill. The subjection of women. [...]
[...] Theories of Madison and Mill On Mankind Madison vs. Mill's arguments Introduction Liberalists are concerned about how societies make decisions on issues that impact directly to the public. There are concerns about the people who make the decisions and how the public is involved in making the decisions. Tyranny of the majority is a term used to describe a situation where the majority in a democratic society uses their ability to oppress the minorities. The people who were concerned with the tyranny of numbers were worried that the issue is unavoidable in any democratic society. [...]
[...] Contrary to Madison, Mill argued his support for liberty from a societal view. He believed in free and open debate as the only means through which the truth could be discovered. Madison on the other side expressed his views on liberty from a political view. Mill focused more on the effects of uneducated citizens as the main problem facing the liberal public sphere, but Madison placed more weight on the dangers posed by factions or the special interests of the people in power (Robert, 2002). [...]
[...] Madison and Mills presented efficiency and effectiveness as the advantage that come with separation of powers. Through separation, the different arms of government would be efficient in their roles through developing expertise. When the different arms of the government become efficient in their duties, they play their role of serving the people, for example, the executive is in a position to protect the citizens against foreign attacks and protecting individual liberty. Differences Both Madison and mill share some assumptions about the society, where Madison worried more about the problems brought by faction and tyranny of the majority. [...]
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