For any human characteristic or behaviour, and applying whatever set of values, the “best” are always in – and must always be – a minority.
A majority view – on anything – therefore cannot – ever – be the “best” view.
Which must mean therefore that a democracy can never be “best”. It may be good enough – but it can never be best. A democracy does not even lead to the pursuit of the “average” or even the “median”. If anything it tends to the “mode”. A democracy is inherently then for the pursuit of the nondescript, for being unexceptionable, for conformity. It is for sustaining the mediocre.
If the human objective is the pursuit of excellence – by whatever standard and for whatever characteristic – then a democracy is not the way to go. Excellence requires the selection, and the promotion, of minorities. In fact a democracy is incompatible with the quest for excellence.
Socialist democracies try to level down while capitalist democracies try to level up. But both favour mediocrity to excellence.
Tags: democracy