To: koan who wrote (13627 ) 3/26/2012 11:08:03 PM From: average joe 3 Recommendations Read Replies (2) | Respond to "Ryan based his budget on Ayn Rand's philosophy. We all know that flys in the face of Catholic ideology. They showed a clip of a reporter asking him why he did that given he is a Catholic. He ran (literally) away from the question." aynrandlexicon.com The American system is not a democracy. It is a constitutional republic. A democracy, if you attach meaning to terms, is a system of unlimited majority rule; the classic example is ancient Athens. And the symbol of it is the fate of Socrates, who was put to death legally, because the majority didn’t like what he was saying, although he had initiated no force and had violated no one’s rights. Democracy, in short, is a form of collectivism, which denies individual rights: the majority can do whatever it wants with no restrictions. In principle, the democratic government is all-powerful. Democracy is a totalitarian manifestation; it is not a form of freedom . . . . The American system is a constitutionally limited republic, restricted to the protection of individual rights. In such a system, majority rule is applicable only to lesser details, such as the selection of certain personnel. But the majority has no say over the basic principles governing the government. It has no power to ask for or gain the infringement of individual rights." ARL
