Democracy enslaves: a mainstream appeal

Janice Rogers Brown, that nice, non-activist judge, has decided to assuage our fears by showing how far from the extremes of conservatism she is. In speeches referenced in the NYT, Brown has declared, as Lindsay notes, that Democracy leads to Slavery:

"In the heyday of liberal democracy, all roads lead to slavery," she has warned in speeches. Society and the courts have turned away from the founders' emphasis on personal responsibility, she has argued, toward a culture of government regulation and dependency that threatens fundamental freedoms."

"We no longer find slavery abhorrent," she told the conservative Federalist Society a few years ago. "We embrace it." She explained in another speech, "If we can invoke no ultimate limits on the power of government, a democracy is inevitably transformed into a kleptocracy - a license to steal, a warrant for oppression."

Had this statement come from a Democrat (replace the words "Liberal Democracy" with "Bush Administration" or "Republican Platform") assailing the homogenized "we need more government legislation to make the people more moral" views of Republican Leadership like Rick Santorum, Tom DeLay & Bill Frist, the statements make some sense. Mind you, we would have been entertained by Ken Mehlman "respectfully" disagreeing, Republican Leadership assailing the reference to slavery and all sorts of freeper hystrionics and wingnuttery claiming how limits on government power would lead directly to satanic beastial orgies involving children dining on fecal matter and gay redneck porn.

In truth, what Rogers Brown is describing as a bad path to slavery/loss of freedom is not Liberal Democracy at all, but what occurs when the tyranny of the majority and unchecked power allows for uncontrolled government regulation of any or all affairs (i.e., the current trend toward religious oligarchy). It seems a case of someone protesting too much as she decries the conservative actions she is a party to by ascribing the threat and bad outcome to her opponents. Regardless of what it was meant to be, anyone who likens Democracy to slavery is at least 2 standard deviations from the norm and that, my friends, is an extremist.

Tags:courts; Politics; extremist; conservative

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