Anyone ahead in any poll touts it as evidence they are on "the right side of history" because they better reflect "the will of the people." The same happens with initiatives that command over 50% approval in some survey. Yet democracy is a seriously flawed ideal.

Democracy is a seriously flawed ideal.Perhaps the most obvious evidence is that candidates and policies claiming majority support as justification are commonly advancing coercive government measures that take from one group to give to others. Such piracy policies, which violate the universal moral and ethical condemnation of theft, cannot be ideal from citizens' point of view.

There are, in fact, several ways democracy comes up short as an ideal. To be an ideal, it would have to avoid violating individuals' established rights, creating the tyranny America's founders so feared from democracy. It would have to be responsive; people's votes would have to matter. It would have to give people incentives to become well informed and think carefully before deciding policy issues. It would require powerful incentives to deter dishonesty and other forms of misrepresentation. It would have to be limited in scope, as no one wants every issue, from how they dress to what they eat, drive, live in, etc., subject to majority determination.