this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2023
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United States | News & Politics

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Former Republican Pennsylvania Senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum has said that Ohio’s vote to back abortion rights and marijuana legalisation shows that “pure democracies are not the way to run a country”.

The rightwing commentator, who was booted from CNN after making disparaging comments about Native Americans, appeared on the far-right network Newsmax on Tuesday night to take part in its election coverage.

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[–] sylver_dragon@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

OK, yes pure democracy has problems. There should be some limits on what can be democratically decided. Something like the Athenian process of ostracism probably felt good, but it's pretty ripe for abuse. Or say, should slavery be put up for a vote? I'd lean towards "no". But, something like legalizing marijuana seems like a pretty good place for democracy to step in and stop decades of stupid by our politicians.

[–] Nougat@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A major problem with majority rule is the tyranny of the majority.

What happened in Ohio was the majority of voters acting to protect certain minorities. Women who have a need for abortion services are a minority. Marijuana is only illegal so that people in minority demographics can be convicted of felonies and have their voting rights taken away.

[–] Narrrz@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

so, an example of democracy working how it ideally should, instead of how it could be expected to.

[–] Nougat@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago

Absolutely, and it makes it very clear which voters are only thinking of themselves, and which voters are thinking of society at large.