Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site oliveb.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!oliveb!long
From: long@oliveb.UUCP (Dave Long)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.religion
Subject: Re: USA: a religious country?
Message-ID: <615@oliveb.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 29-Sep-85 17:20:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: oliveb.615
Posted: Sun Sep 29 17:20:29 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 2-Oct-85 00:33:04 EDT
References: <1072@ulysses.UUCP> <607@hou2g.UUCP> <11384@rochester.UUCP>
Reply-To: long@oliveb.UUCP (Dave Long)
Organization: DARC; Cupertino, CA
Lines: 16
Xref: watmath net.politics:11255 net.religion:7818
Summary: 

In article <680@bu-cs.UUCP> sam@bu-cs.UUCP (Shelli Meyers) writes:
> You have to try to please MOST of the people MOST of the time.

    Read Chapter 1 of "American Political Tradition" by Richard Hofstadter.  The
reason that we have a *Republic* and not a Democracy in the US is because the
Founding Fathers did not wish to have the government please MOST of the people
MOST of the time.  In fact, they were fearful of what James Madison, the writer
of the Constitution, called "the superior force of an interested and overbearing
majority".  George Washington himself told the delegates to the Constitutional
Convention that they should not produce a document which would merely "please
the people".  I would also say that believing that "MOST of the people" take
your viewpoint may be another mistake.
						Dave Long

-- 
{hplabs,fortune,idi,ihnp4,tolerant,allegra,tymix}!oliveb!long


Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com