Majoritarianism Quotes

“The worst enemy of truth and freedom in our society is the compact majority. Yes, the damned, compact, liberal majority.”
― Henrik Ibsen, Oxford Ibsen Vol 6: An Enemy of the People / The Wild Duck / Rosmersholm

“The majority never has right on its side. Never I say! That is one of the social lies that a free, thinking man is bound to rebel against. Who makes up the majority in any given country? Is it the wise men or the fools? I think we must agree that the fools are in a terrible overwhelming majority, all the wide world over. But, damn it, it can surely never be right that the stupid should rule over the clever! (An Enemy of the People, act 4)”
― Henrik Ibsen, Oxford Ibsen Vol 6: An Enemy of the People / The Wild Duck / Rosmersholm

“Come the next election, in a two-party or two-party-plus system, a very small swing amongst the voters, a slight shift of the median voter on the normal distribution curve, may lead to a complete change of government, whereupon a new set of persons takes over, and a new set of ministers accepts collective responsibility for policies which, in some instances, completely overturn the decisions of the former administration. Yet all is due to just a very small swing. Majoritarian politics, which some claim offers stable government, is actually part of a system which perpetuates instability, especially if viewed from a long-term perspective.”
― Peter J. Emerson, From Majority Rule to Inclusive Politics