… is from page 53 of the twentieth-anniversary edition of Albert Hirschman’s 1977 book, The Passions and the Interests: Political Arguments for Capitalism before Its Triumph [footnote deleted; link added]:
Elsewhere Locke says that “Freedom of Men under Government” means “not to be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, Arbitrary will of another man.” Uncertainty in general and man’s inconstancy in particular therefore become the arch-enemy that needs to be exorcised.
DBx: I fear that a naive understanding of democracy misleads many people – left, right, and center – to suppose that as long as the men and women who exercise power are elected to office, or are appointed by individuals who are elected to office, or are under the supervision of officials who are appointed by individuals who are elected to office, then the exercise of power is not arbitrary. I fear, that is, that even the most terrible exercises of power will be misconstrued as consistent with the rule of law as long as there is some democratic election somewhere in the train of events that led to the government officials’ exercise of power.
Among the most dangerous fallacies that modern people embrace is the notion that regularly held majority-rule elections are sufficient to keep the power of government officials properly bound.
