User talk:Gonefishing
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I object on the grounds that we should not be promoting any generalized stereotype of what a democracy is or "should be", the definition should be broadly applicable to any form of democracy. I don't think we should be equating democracy with majoritarian democracy, the fact that there are democracies were groups hold veto power demonstrates that democracies aren't always majoritarian. Secondly there is consensus democracy that seeks not merely a majority of support, but support from all the different sections of society.--R-41 (talk) 23:16, 12 July 2012 (UTC)
- You may be right about sovereignty, that's why I did not restore that part. I think your choice of the term "political power" is more appropriate than sovereignty, because, as you say there are liberal democratic constitutional monarchies such as the United Kingdom, where the monarch officially holds sovereignty.--R-41 (talk) 23:24, 12 July 2012 (UTC)
- No I don't think we should say in the intro that most democracies are majoritarian, because even unintentionally, it implies that democracies have a natural tendency to be majoritarian. It would be the same as saying "most of the socialist governments in the world's history have been Marxist-Leninist communist ones". It may be factually true, but it gives a sense of a natural tendency.--R-41 (talk) 23:38, 12 July 2012 (UTC)
- I suppose you are right that we should mention it. It is necessary to describe liberal democracy in the intro. I suggest that we include a statement that says that many variants of democracy are based upon majority rule, but also say that there are other types of making decisions or selecting representatives, such as through consensus, or groups having veto power over issues that directly affect them. It also should be noted that there are variants of democracy that are not based on all people having equal votes, there are non-egalitarian forms of democracy where some people's votes count for two or more than another person whose vote only counts for one. Also there have been egalitarian forms of democracy that do not have equal votes for each individual but equal representation of cultural groups - such as minorities' having voting power on an equal level to a majority group, even though their group in terms of individuals is smaller, thus on a rep-by-pop basis they are overrepresented - the US Senate is an example of this - smaller populated states are equal in representatives to larger populated states.--R-41 (talk) 00:27, 13 July 2012 (UTC)