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dparklast Saturday at 4:50 AM1 replyview on HN

> the majority realizes they can't tyrannize the minority because the minority can run away and work under their own system of law

Keep going. What happens when the majority refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy of the minority government?

Go down the hole deep enough and you’ll figure out why everyone who doesn’t want to be a dictator or a dictator’s lackey prefers democracy.


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mothballedlast Saturday at 5:26 AM

Why would the minority prefer to live under a 'democracy' when the majority have decided they would kill them because they don't acknowledge their 'legitimacy'? That's when they need to avoid monopolistic democracy the most! You present the strongest case for my argument!

Under the split model they at least have a chance; the minority can bind together, form alliances, and frustrate the 'majorities' force. This is what we see on the world stage -- minority populations like USA or India form alliances and somehow survive without a world government to force the will of a vote of the majority of the world. The USA population is a minority and most are extremely happy it's not a world democracy which is what the logical conclusion of your argument leads to, based on your implied threat that minority USA would experience.

Under your proposal, they all simply are voted into being democracy's 'lackey' assuming the majority don't simply vote them dead.

Not to mention you're contradicting yourself in your statement -- a dictatorship is a minority rule yet you imply they can't exist because the majority would destroy the minority in power.

In reality even in the incredibly unlikely case minorities can't form alliances strong enough it's not worth the risk to try to crush them -- even then in the real world it's often better off for both sides to engage in trade and coexistence rather than to simply kill each other. Of course, even in democracies, war exists, and they would under all other forms of governance.

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