Why We Should Love Democracy, with a Few Caveats

“But even if we should accept and defend democracy as an ideal, we should not make the mistake of forgetting that anti-democratic—or, at least, non-democratic—procedures and institutions are necessary for sustaining a liberal democratic society like our own.”

Winston Churchill famously defined democracy as “the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” Defenses of democracy often amount to some version of this least worst option line. It is witty and certainly true. But is there not a better, more robust defense of democracy—of government of, by, and for the people—out there?

There is, and that stronger, more inspiring defense of democracy would be one of principle rather than pragmatism. To rediscover that more robust defense of democracy today, we must return to first principles regarding who we are as humans—what we are owed by way of rights and how we relate to one another.

As the Declaration of Independence itself makes clear, we are individuals endowed with equal dignity and human rights. There are certain things—rights, we call them—we are owed as individuals by virtue of our humanity.