Democracy is awesome, right?

Yet an inherent fundamental flaw remains: giving the power to the people, left to their own devices, the majority can easily exploit the minority.

This shortcoming has reared its head repeatedly throughout history. When it gets particularly ugly, we call it “populism.” Put differently, populism is a rather common product of democracy that we don’t like.

Fortunately, in the U.S. we have certain protections against attempts for the majority to disadvantage the minority, as expressed in our Bill of Rights. But more specifically: those rights are mostly protections limiting what our government can (or cannot) do to us as individuals. 

In contrast, protections against what groups can do to other groups, especially actions by non-governmental actors, are far more limited. And in this age when group identity has become so central to how social policies, business practices, and legal constructs are understood and implemented, this leaves a lot of room for the kind of mischief we increasingly see around us.

But such mischief is popular. And popular is what democracy is all about. 

The idea of allowing selected groups (e.g., “victims”) access to advantages in preference over other groups (e.g., the “privileged”) in an effort to finally “flip the script” and equalize outcomes has gained social traction in recent years. The mischief arises by pitting group rights against individual rights.

But seen through the lens of equalizing outcomes, activities that discriminate against groups – as contrasted with individuals – become wrapped in a seemingly noble objective. And a noble goal makes a tasty recipe for popular. 

Within a democratic setting, I personally envision true social justice as that idealistic state wherein the opportunities for all members of our society are essentially equal. Opportunity is everything. Equal opportunity for each individual should be one’s birthright in any true democracy. Outcomes be damned.

Still, let’s get real: outcomes are never equal. That’s just not how life works. That’s not how any of this works. Thoughtful social safety nets are needed as a reflection of our mercy and compassion for the human condition.

Nonetheless, despite the best of noble intentions, when one group is allowed to take advantage of another group, we are screwing with the fundamental weakness of democracy and our rights as individuals.

And screwing with this is, well, going to screw things up.