“The whole purpose of democracy”

The whole purpose of democracy, after all, is to force our opinions on each other through argument, persuasion, voting and majority rule. Democracy is the peaceful way of getting our way even if others don’t like it.

The catch, of course, is those “others” always have equal access to that democratic privilege. It means we end up endlessly awash in debating bombast but that is preferable to an endless series of detonating bomb blasts.

The absence of violence is precisely what makes it “fair” to expect citizens to pay taxes for the things they find disagreeable. Our power to peacefully change things in a democracy requires we surrender to paying for things we don’t like as we’re waiting our turn.

Peter Stockland, “The wondrous window of a newspaper letters section”

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