from Ayn Rand : Representation without Autorization
The theory of representative government rests on the principle
that a human is a rational being :
- that he/she is able to perceive the facts of reality,
- to evaluate them,
- to form rational judgments,
- to make his/her own choices,
- to bear responsibility for the course of his/her life.
Politically, this principle is implemented by a person’s right
to choose their own agents :
those whom he/she authorizes to represent him/her
in the government of their country.
To represent him/her, in this context, means
to represent his/her views in terms of political principles.
Thus the government of a free country derives its
“just powers from the consent of the governed.”
As a corroboration of the link between man’s rational faculty and a representative form of government, observe that
- those who are demonstrably or physiologically incapable of rational judgment cannot exercise the right to vote.
- voting is a derivative, not a fundamental, right;
- it is derived from the right to life, as a political implementation of the requirements of a rational being’s survival.
Children do not vote, because they have not acquired the knowledge necessary to form a rational judgment on political issues; neither do the feeble-minded or the insane, who have lost or never developed their rational faculty.
However, the possession of a rational faculty does not guarantee that a person will use it, only that they are able to use it and are, therefore, responsible for their actions.
NEXT Post : Democracy : “Democratic” in its original meaning refers to unlimited majority rule . . . a social system in which one’s work, one’s property, one’s mind, and one’s life are at the mercy of any gang that may muster the vote of a majority at any moment for any purpose ... Stay tuned ...
