List of Democracy’s Foundational Principles or Ideals

Democracy’s Foundational

Principles and Ideals

American democracy is (supposedly) liberal democracy, and as such it was structured around the values of classical liberalism. In modern times “democracy” has implied a liberal-democratic system (referring to western constitutional liberalism and individual rights), but the increasing existence of illiberal-democratic systems recommends that the differences between the two need better clarification and consideration. A society can have the formal trappings of democracy and not be “democratic” at all in the traditional liberal sense.

Democracy in-and-of-itself is worthless. It is desired, or not, based on the ideals it entails and promotes. So why democracy? What is democracy intended to facilitate or accomplish? What is democracy’s purpose? What are the ideals democracy is intended to serve? The following is a list of principles and ideals (and a brief elaboration of each) which undergird and motivate liberal democracy:

The Dignity and Moral Primacy of the Human Individual

• Each human being has an innate right to respect and ethical treatment. Humans are, in Kant’s terminology, “ends in themselves.” All human beings are born free, and equal in dignity and worth. The individual is morally significant and inherently important; the individual is not trivial.
• Human dignity requires that individuals be treated with deference and appreciation. Humans are endowed with reason and conscience and should interact with one another in a spirit of consanguinity and fellowship.
• The dignity of the human being is the foundation of the social moral vision. The dignity and welfare of the human being are the cause of, and basis for, social institutions. Human dignity is the standard by which political, social, and economic structures are judged. Whatever insults human dignity mutilates and debases society.

Transparent, Accountable Government

• In addition to governing in accordance with the public will, the government has an obligation to operate effectively, efficiently, and accountably. All of government must be responsible and accountable to the public. There should be regular auditing and evaluation of government programs. The government should operate transparently, and be subject to scrutiny, criticism, reproof, and castigation. The press and private organizations must monitor, investigate, and publicize the government’s actions. Multiple public and private sources of information must be available for examination and interpretation by a variety of ideologically diverse viewpoints.
• The government has an obligation to explain and justify its actions. The data and analysis necessary to reach reliable conclusions about government effectiveness and efficiency must be produced and freely accessible. The public must be able to evaluate and understand government actions. Policy and legislation must be succinct, comprehensible, and non-arcane.
• Government officials must not be able to hide behind inflated auras of decorum or obfuscating, equivocating, double-talking spokespersons. The public must be able to confront government officials and demand explanations according to the public’s desired timetable for that information, not according to the caprice or elusive convenience of the officials. Government must not be able to forestall or sidetrack accountability in order to blunt the repercussions. Government must not be permitted to wield its power to disadvantage its opponents, or to intimidate, silence, libel, or vilify those seeking to expose its actions. There must exist entities with the authority and power to investigate and hold the government accountable.

Individual Self-Ownership, Self-Determination, Sovereignty

• Human dignity is related to individual agency—the right to self-determination, self-ownership.
• An owner is someone who has the right and power to control something. An individual’s life is his own—he is the owner of his life. It belongs to him. He does not belong—in an ownership sense—to anyone or anything outside of himself. An environment where self-ownership does not exist is defined as an environment of slavery. No person or group of persons may rightfully treat another as a slave by presuming to own all or even a part of him. Human beings may not even voluntarily renounce or relinquish the condition of being free agents, and thereby enslave themselves. Such an action would destroy the very essence of what it is to be human. Self-ownership is not a status to be either acquired or relinquished; it is an inextricable characteristic of being human.
• Self-ownership consists in the natural and moral right to sovereignty over one’s own mind, body, and life. As much as possible, individuals should be ultimately sovereign over the decisions which affect their lives—free from external intentional compulsion. All rational beings have a duty to respect the bodily integrity and autonomy of other rational beings. No person or group of persons may aggress against others, or interfere with their use of their bodies. Where humans are not treated as self-owners—as free and responsible persons—their dignity is degraded, and humanity is depreciated.
• Democracy attempts to extend the right to self-determination to the political realm. The legitimacy of government itself is said to depend upon consent. Individuals and—by extension—peoples, have a right to self-governance. More-majoritarian outcomes are preferred to less-majoritarian ones. Why? Because it is better for more individuals to be in control of their lives, than to not be. The whole theory of democracy itself rests upon the concept of the individual and his right to sovereignty—the individual as unique and deserving discrete authority or representation within the political system.

Fundamental Individual Rights

• The inherent dignity, agency, and equality of individuals entails their having certain fundamental, universal, and inalienable rights, which no authority may morally dismiss. These include the individual right to life, liberty, conscience, expression, privacy, self-determination and more.
• The preamble to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights asserts that the “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world,” and that disregard or contempt for these rights represents tyranny and oppression, and outrages the conscience of mankind. The document continues by reaffirming a “faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women,” and by pledging “the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
• The preservation of the rights to life, liberty, and property was asserted as the justification for the American Revolution, with Thomas Jefferson declaring the inalienable rights to be self-evident.
• Democracy is purported to be the political framework in which rights are best safeguarded.

Individual Liberty, Freedom

• Based in part on the principle of self-ownership, individuals have a right to freedom. Freedom is a fundamental and inseparable aspect of human dignity. Freedom is evidenced in one’s ability to exercise agency over oneself. It is the belief that people should control as much as possible those decisions which affect their lives. Liberty is innate and its restriction needs stringent justification. Government does not grant fundamental freedoms; government exits to protect the freedoms each individual possesses inherently. Government which becomes intrusive, domineering, ubiquitous, or totalitarian is fundamentally antithetical to freedom. Freedom is the opposite of submission and obedience.
• Freedom of thought (or “conscience”) is one of the paramount and essential freedoms. Freedom of conscience is the indispensable antecedent of nearly every other freedom. But what is of principal concern is the freedom to follow one’s conscience—not for this conscience to merely exist abstractly, ethereally, or intangibly, but for it to be at liberty to have a consequential and controlling connection to one’s life. The freedom of thought, without the freedom to express that thought, and to follow the dictates of that thought, is worthless. A person cannot be prevented from thinking whatever he chooses, and it is discomforting and even pathological if he is not permitted to express and adhere to his conscience. (Socrates preferred to face death rather than conceal his thoughts.) The freedom of expression is not merely the liberty to make noise. It is about connection between thoughts and actions, and sovereign integration between one’s inner and outer life. It is the freedom to determine and pursue one’s own conception of the good life.
• The State is not to dictate or control conscience. The State has a duty of temperance, tolerance, and restraint in order to not encroach upon the pluralistic exercise of individual liberty. The individual is entitled to a life affording autonomy, personal discretion, privacy, independence, and volitional association. The notion of freedom of thought and expression is also intimately linked to political debate and the concept of democracy itself.
• Embedded within the democratic ideal is the immense importance accorded to human equality and individual liberty, and these have had a domineering influence on perspective. Democracy is a set of principles and practices intended to protect human freedom. Nonetheless, society involves the curtailment of “complete” freedom according to the requirements of public safety, the peaceful resolution of conflict, and the just treatment of every citizen, as well as for certain cooperative endeavors. The challenge is, however, to not allow it to be defined such that the individual sphere disappears and the public sphere becomes all-encompassing and tyrannical.

Prevention of Tyranny, Despotism, Totalitarianism

• Human beings are by nature free, equal, and self-determining, and should not be possessed or subjugated by others. The possession of authority and power is prone to result in dictatorial, oppressive, or abusive exercise of that power. The concentration of power and authority in a few hands is dangerous and must be prevented. Government must be structured to protect and preserve liberty, and to prevent tyranny, despotism, and totalitarianism. Authority must be prevented from becoming autocratic, corrupt, or exploitive.
• Democratic governance is proposed to be the most reliable means of preventing tyranny and protecting freedom and autonomy. “The people, acting as their own governors, will not abuse or enslave themselves.” Power and authority are possessed only temporarily and only by regular public consent.

Public Justification, Legitimization of Authority, Consent, Allegiance

• “Political legitimacy” involves the rationalization of authority; the moral basis for obedience to power. Authority and power must be justified and legitimate, not arbitrary. No man has a natural claim to rule over another. All legitimate political power is derived from the consent of individuals, who are by nature free and equal. Political authority is justified on the basis of mutual agreement. Government should be created by, and subject to, the will of the governed.
• A government’s authority further depends on its moral defensibility. Power is not given to government to permit oppression or abuse, but rather to protect freedom, fundamental rights, and welfare. As John Locke maintained in The Right of Revolution, “if a government abuses its trust and violates the people’s fundamental rights … the people are entitled to rebel and replace that government with another to whose laws they can willingly give their consent.”
• Thomas Jefferson affirmed that “…Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”
• The continued legitimacy of any regime depends on it appearing reasonable from each citizen’s individual perspective. People must be able to recognize their government as sensible, fair, and worthy of their respect and allegiance. Government should keep citizens enfranchised not out of fear or force, but based on a rational acceptance of its appropriateness, legitimacy, and worth.

Public Sovereignty

• Government is created by, and subject to, the consent of the governed. The legitimacy of the State depends upon public consent and the State’s willingness to comply with, and act upon, the public’s will. The public is the ultimate authority, and the source of the authority in government.
• The sovereign public temporarily and conditionally vests government officials with authority which they are to execute according to the public will. The authority permitted to the government may be withdrawn or altered at the public’s discretion. Government officials serve only at the pleasure of the public, and are to act as servants of the public; agents of the public will.
• Public sovereignty—where not exercised directly—is exercised via free and periodic elections. Individuals have the right to participate in, and influence, decisions which affect them. Society should go in the direction in which the public wants it to go. Citizens have the right to live as they please.
• Public sovereignty is constrained by individual sovereignty, and vice versa. Individuals have a cardinal right to self-determination and to the freedom consistent with directing their own lives. Particular types of individual decisions, however, may have externalities which affect the lives of others as well. The collective decision making of public sovereignty must reconcile the difficulties presented by social externalities while respecting the sovereignty of the individual.

Public Will, Common Good

• “The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government.” People individually and collectively have a right to self-governance; to self-determination. Law and policy must respect the public’s sovereignty, and reflect the public’s will. The more closely the political system realizes the public will, the more legitimate and appropriate it is. Politics should be a competition to serve the people’s common interests. Ultimately, the public is the judge of what constitutes the public good and comprises their will. Government representatives must respect the public’s will, or demonstrate how they believe it diverges from the general welfare or the public’s “actual” best interests.
• The public will must reflect common interests and general welfare; it must not preference special interests, or become overbearing or suffocating, or destroy plurality and individual sovereignty. Policy must demonstrate tolerance, restraint, impartiality, and commonality of interest, and strive toward consensus.

Due Process and Rule of Law

• Society and its various governmental entities must operate according to the “rule of law,” not the caprice of a particular ruler. The rule of law protects citizens’ rights, maintains order, and limits the power of government.
• The exercise of governmental authority must be in accordance with explicit, written, publicly-disclosed laws, and the process by which these laws are enacted must be established, clear, and fair. The government must not act secretly, arbitrarily, partially, or oppressively. Every person is equally subject to the law and no one—including the government—is above the law.
• Laws must be prospective (not retroactive), general, clear, consistent, certain, and stable. They should protect the security of persons and property, and the reliability of contracts.
• The laws should be administered and enforced fairly and according to due process. No person may be deprived of property, arrested, imprisoned, or exiled arbitrarily. No person may be subjected to torture, or to cruel and inhuman treatment. No person may be taxed or prosecuted except by a law established in advance. All persons have the right to know the charges against them, and must be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, through a prompt, fair, and public trial. No person may be coerced or compelled to testify against himself. All persons have the right to legal representation, to participate in their own defense, and to question any witnesses against them. No person acquitted of a crime may again be tried on the same charge.
• The legal system and the judiciary need to be independent, accessible, competent, impartial, transparent, prompt, and dependable. The discretion exercised in the process of enforcing the laws must not subvert either the intentions or the reliability of the laws. Everyone must be ensured access to a fair hearing and justice.
• Each person has a right to be treated fairly, justly, predictably, and reasonably by government.

Accessible, Responsive Government

• Political systems must facilitate the expression of, and be able to correctly interpret, the will of the public. The public must have convenient and effective means to provide truly consequential input to governmental decision making. The public must be able to control the political agenda and prioritize government efforts.
• The government class must not become insulated, dismissive, condescending, arrogant, self-interested, or dictatorial. Government must not become distant, monolithic, inaccessible, exclusive, secretive, or incomprehensible.
• The political and legislative processes must be open and transparent. Elected representatives must listen to the people and be responsive to their concerns. Government effort must correspond to the concerns of the public, and policy must reflect what the public wants. The public must have recourse to correct any governmental actions of which it disapproves.

Foster Debate, Find Truth

• The traditional Millsian argument is that, as their merit is recognized, true ideas will win out over false ones in public debate. Additionally, the public’s understanding will be increased by engaging with alternative and unconventional views, even where these views may in the end be concluded to be wrong or bad. A public conversation which brings alternative information and perspectives into the public’s awareness facilitates the dissemination of knowledge, encourages citizens to reflect upon common concerns, and keeps them mindful of ideological diversity, pluralism, and the need for tolerance and restraint.
• In the search for truth and the best solutions to common problems, it is important for citizens to engage in dialogue and deliberation with one another for the purpose of considering cooperative efforts and their collective future. A process of “collective government by discussion” leads to better results and beneficial side effects on the public. Participation in public debate and governmental affairs broadens individual perspectives.

Peaceful Change and Evolvable, Correctable Policy

• Government should be evolvable, correctable, replaceable, and ultimately under the control of those governed. The legal basis for government must be independent of any particular regime. The public must be able to replace a regime or its policies without up-ending the political system or precipitating political uncertainty. Regime change should be peaceful, orderly, and lawful. The government must adapt to the wishes of the public without the necessity for violent struggle or revolution. Citizens must feel confident they have a regular, prescribed opportunity to change those who are in power, and to correct policy with which they disagree. The public must have the ability to ensure government policy remains in sync with the public’s will.
• The political system must be amenable to the rise and fall of competing parties. There must be regular and genuine opportunity to change rulers. The governing authorities must not be able to handicap or prevent aspirants from replacing them if the public desires. Loosing parties and their supporters must accept the results of free elections and cooperate with a peaceful transfer of power.
• The political system should provide a civil and cooperative forum for resolving public arguments.
• No policy is permanent. A new regime may alter or reverse decisions made by an older regime. Decisions are not binding on future legislatures. Each generation is free to decide issues for themselves. The public must have the ability to evolve and adapt policy as necessary to accommodate contemporary concerns. It should remain continually possible to assess and publicize the defects of current policy, and to subject the current regime to criticism and popular pressure to ensure the government does not become arbitrary or tyrannical.

Control of the Military

• The military exists to impartially defend society, not define it. The military does not represent or support any political view or social group. Its loyalty is to the rule of law and the larger ideals of the nation. The military protects the nation and the liberty of its citizens, it does not lead or dictate. The military remains excluded from the realm of politics. There should be full civilian control and authority over the armed services. Military leaders advise the elected leaders and carry out the elected leaders’ decisions. Questions of war or national security are decided by civilian authorities.

Limited, Controlled, Checked State Power

• Autocratic or authoritarian rule is an offense against human dignity. Individuals have a right to a government which respects their autonomy, will, and self-determination. Governments need to be circumscribed and constrained in order to curb their inclination toward becoming oppressive and totalitarian. Political authority must be strictly limited and its expansion guarded against.
• There must be fundamental systematic safe-guards against the accumulation or concentration of governmental power. The structure of government itself must be designed with a separation of powers, and checks and balances to prevent it from becoming dictatorial, autocratic, or totalitarian. Governmental powers should be astutely divided and dispersed among several independent and counterbalancing authorities such that the resulting system dynamics police and restrain the State.
• There must also exist investigative and judicial authorities which have the power, capacity, and prestige to oversee, scrutinize, and discipline the system, and to hold it accountable.
• As a final check, the people themselves defend against an unjust legal system by way of the jury system. In spite of the law having been technically violated, citizen juries may refuse to convict a defendant, and to thereby repudiate laws they disagree with.

Foster Prosperity and the Public’s Best Interests

• The role of government is to facilitate the conditions for peace, human prosperity, and well-being. Government should be structured such that it cultivates a political and social order inherently inclined toward the production of the greater good. The political paradigm should cause the government to naturally gravitate toward acting in the public’s best interests. The system should function as a safeguard against socially harmful policies, and prevent governmental fraud, abuse, and oppression. The political system should increase personal freedom, economic opportunity, social justice, and general prosperity. It should encourage people to think for themselves and to be entrepreneurial. It should encourage cooperation and fraternity, and ultimately satisfy the citizens’ demands upon it.

Decentralization (Subsidiarity) and Local Empowerment

• The primary unit of government is the individual. Sovereignty and discretion should be kept as close to the individual as possible to reduce arbitrary, anonymous, and unaccountable rule. Government should be “close to the people” in order to limit the concentration and abuse of power. All-powerful, central governments must be guarded against, and power and authority must be decentralized and disbursed to keep government accessible, responsive, and accountable. Citizens should have convenient access to, and effective means of control over, their political institutions.
• Each government function should be performed at the lowest level of government capable of effectively accomplishing it. Power should be broadly distributed and decisions should be made by the people who live in the area where they will apply. Local government is better able to realize and respond to the needs and desires of its citizens with tailored solutions. Government is more responsive, responsible, and accountable when it is closer to the people.
• Decentralization more broadly distributes power and allows local communities and groups more control over their own affairs. There is less disenfranchisement and more accountability. Groups that would be unable to win power or representation at higher levels can effectively participate at local levels.

Pluralism, Tolerance

• Government is only one aspect of society, and must not become heavy handed. Government must not become omnipresent, pervasive, or dominant. Significant aspects of society operate outside of the government, free of government control. They do not depend upon government for their existence, legitimacy, or authority. Citizens are free to join or organize independent groups which address the issues they are concerned with—whether or not the efforts are sanctioned or preferred by the government. Organizations of this nature may even function in a mediating capacity between the individual and governmental institutions.
• Within the public arena there is a diversity of views which should be tolerated and respected. Society must accommodate the peaceful coexistence of differing interests, convictions, and lifestyles.

Free Political Expression and Participation

• Individuals have a right to participate in decisions which affect them. Every citizen should be free to participate in the political community’s collective self-government. People must be free to express their political opinions, criticize policy, and offer alternatives without fear of recrimination or punishment.
• Political systems should be open, inclusive, and non-coercive. The collective political will should be shaped by reason, deliberation, and individual discretion—not by deception, coercion, or force.

Political Equality and Empowerment

• Human beings are by nature free and equal in dignity, worth, and self-ownership. Political systems must respect the fundamental equal worth and moral equality of all citizens.
• All citizens have a right to political equality, and to participate in collective governance on an equal footing with others.
• There must be equal and non-exclusive eligibility to participate in the electoral process, and no person or group should have privileged status or access. The political system should empower all citizens—including the disadvantaged—to advocate for, and support, the policies they favor, while respecting the majority will. It should also recognize and protect the rights of minorities, and engender a sense of fundamental equity and justice.

Majority Rule

• Majority rule is a principle, or practical necessity, rather than an ideal. It’s not a “good,” or something desired in-and-of-itself, but rather a decision rule for resolving conflicts. It’s a product of the attempt to reconcile other ideals with the practical difficulties of collective government. Consensus is unlikely to occur in modern society, and some less-stringent standard is required if decisions are to be reached. People have a right to control over their lives, and this remains true in public matters as well, but there are some public matters which require the resolution of differences and the implementing of rules which some portion of the public disagrees with, but ultimately assents to in order to realize the benefits of cooperation.
• Democracies typically employ some form of decision making by majority rule, however, majority rule is not necessarily “democratic.” Democracy involves more than just majority rule; it entails respect, and tolerance, and consensualism. Oppression is illegitimate no matter the proportion of oppressors to oppressed. Democracy entails the guarantee of individual—and in turn minority—rights which do not depend on the caprice or goodwill of the majority.

General Equality

• Government efforts should tend toward the improvement of society in its entirety, and “raise all boats.” Policies should address common concerns and favor the many, rather than the few. Laws should be impartial and afford equal protection to all. There must be a just balancing of competing interests where necessary. The government must act fairly, without discrimination or favoritism.

The above material was excerpted and or adapted from the book

“THE MYTH OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY:

The Deification of Democratic Governance and the Subversion of Individual Liberty”

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“It is in vain to summon a people, which has been rendered so dependent on the central power, to choose from time to time the representatives of that power; this rare and brief exercise of their free choice, however important it may be, will not prevent them from gradually losing the faculties of thinking, feeling, and acting for themselves, and thus gradually falling below the level of humanity. … It is, indeed, difficult to conceive how men who have entirely given up the habit of self-government should succeed in making a proper choice of those by whom they are to be governed; and no one will ever believe that a liberal, wise, and energetic government can spring from the suffrages of a subservient people.”

– Alexis De Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Vol 2

"Man is an idolater or symbol-worshipper by nature, which, of course, is no fault of his; but sooner or later all his local and temporary symbols must be ground to powder, like the golden calf—word-images as well as metal and wooden ones. Rough work, iconoclasm—but the only way to get at truth."

– Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., The Professor at the Breakfast-Table

“Woe to the country in which political hypocrisy first calls the people almighty, then teaches that the voice of the people is divine, then pretends to take a mere clamor for the true voice of the people, and lastly gets up the desired clamor.”

– Francis Lieber, Columbia University professor of political science

“The power of words is bound up with the images they evoke, and is quite independent of their real significance. Words whose sense is the most ill-defined are sometimes those that possess the most influence. Such, for example, are the terms democracy, socialism, equality, liberty, etc., whose meaning is so vague that bulky volumes do not suffice to precisely fix it. Yet it is certain that a truly magical power is attached to those short syllables, as if they contained the solution of all problems. They synthesize the most diverse unconscious aspirations and the hope of their realization.”

– Gustave Le Bon, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind

“[D]emocratic socialism, the great utopia of the last few generations, is not only unachievable, but… to strive for it produces something utterly different—the very destruction of freedom itself.”
– Friedrich Hayek, The Road To Serfdom

“It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow.”

– James Madison

“There are two methods, or means, and only two, whereby man’s needs and desires can be satisfied. One is the production and exchange of wealth; this is the economic means. The other is the uncompensated appropriation of wealth produced by others; this is the political means. … The State… is the organization of the political means.” – Albert J. Nock, Our Enemy, The State

“How does it become a man to behave toward this American government today? I answer that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it.”

– Henry D. Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

“Free men must guard against the old trick of turning every contingency into a resource for accumulating force in government.”

– James Madison

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