does the majority really believe their values reflect on the majority?

Question

and when did a majority take over the individual rights?

Answer 1

My values obviously don't reflect the majority, since they rarely make me vote for the winner in my riding...federal, provincial and municipal.

With barely 50% of the people actually voting, how is this democratic? I wouldn't go as far as to FORCE people to vote, but why do so many people decide not to vote? Even if they all suck, one must suck alittle less than the others. Why is it that the gov't doesn't care about young people and things like rising student tuition? Because young people don't vote! They don't care about politics, they find it boring. They don't care to know about anything outside their little world and they throw away their most sacred right, a right that millions have died to defend.

I would imagine that the majority of the people that didn't bother to vote in the last two presidential elections in the U.S. would be against the war in Iraq. Now think of the difference that there could have been if these people actually voted.

It is no different here in Canada as it is in the US. We have two parties that offer pretty much the same. We also have a 3rd party and a 4th new party that is very environmental. If the status quo doesn't do it for you, vote for something else. Not voting says nothing. Voting for an independant or another party sends more of a message.

Answer 2

Aside from the first response, which is totally correct, the simple logic is that the values of the majority are therefore the majority values. Individual rights are limited to those which are not surrendered as part of the social contract, although some rights, such as self defense, are never surrendered.

Answer 3

Basic conservative philosophy -- the rights of the individual are always subservient to the needs of the majority.

That's part of the core idealogy -- conformity and consistency -- which requires restrictions on personal choice.