Jusnaturalist (@jusnaturalist)

Natural law and democracy Democracy is often presented as the best political system for ensuring freedom, prosperity and an end to injustice, but is it really? By definition, democracy is a form of government in which the people exercise sovereignty. In practice, democracies are representative: the individuals who obtain the most votes are authorized to make decisions on behalf of the people. There is also the right of referendum, in which the proposal receiving the most votes is ratified. For jusnaturalism, the only truly just system is one that operates on the basis of individual consent.  By officially giving everyone a voice, democracy comes close to this goal, but as soon as the majority makes decisions that oppress minorities, democracy turns into a dictatorship of the majority. The violation of a natural right is not justified by a dictator, an oligarchy or a majority vote. In fact, as long as a dictator is favored by a majority, he may even be a better representative of the people than an individual considered detestable by a majority of people, but nevertheless elected by the machinery of the system in place.  If the state were content to act according to its regalian functions, this would considerably limit the violation of natural rights, whatever the regime. But once the state claims to solve all social problems, it cannot avoid falling into this violation, by arbitrarily privileging some over others. The simplest and most effective way to preserve natural rights would be to establish a dynasty of virtuous, liberty-educated people, whose sole aim would be to defend the natural right of every individual; this is in the direction of royalty. Unfortunately, until such a dynasty emerges within a society, the least bad system is to separate the powers and allow the various minorities to have all kinds of blocking possibilities. It's therefore very important that all powers are not obtained through a democratic vote, as this would be tantamount to giving all powers to the same individuals. A shared power will very often be blocked, but such blockages are desirable, as they help to keep the state at its strict minimum, which is the best guarantee of protecting natural rights.