There are other possibilities here. For instance, Matt Yglesias has written multiple articles on abolishing the filibuster, and one of his arguments was (to badly paraphrase from my lousy memory) that it’s bad in a democracy when the winners of an election can’t govern, even if one considers these winners bad or evil or something.
For one thing, it means even if the winners are “good”, they still can’t govern. For another, it means voters get increasingly disillusioned because not enough changes after an election. And finally, if politicians are allowed to implement terrible policies, these terrible policies will actually materialize, in which case voters can learn that they’re terrible, and if they don’t like them they can vote the bums out who implemented them. (Of course this sets limits to what you should be able to do even with a strong majority, e.g. no-one should be able to stop elections. And separately, it assumes that the electorate has a sufficient ability to learn.)
What’s the alternative anyway? If the winners of an election can’t govern, then the election is a sham. It’s not only a waste of time, it’s a deliberate misdirection meant to fraudulently legitimate the actual power.
There are other possibilities here. For instance, Matt Yglesias has written multiple articles on abolishing the filibuster, and one of his arguments was (to badly paraphrase from my lousy memory) that it’s bad in a democracy when the winners of an election can’t govern, even if one considers these winners bad or evil or something.
For one thing, it means even if the winners are “good”, they still can’t govern. For another, it means voters get increasingly disillusioned because not enough changes after an election. And finally, if politicians are allowed to implement terrible policies, these terrible policies will actually materialize, in which case voters can learn that they’re terrible, and if they don’t like them they can vote the bums out who implemented them. (Of course this sets limits to what you should be able to do even with a strong majority, e.g. no-one should be able to stop elections. And separately, it assumes that the electorate has a sufficient ability to learn.)
What’s the alternative anyway? If the winners of an election can’t govern, then the election is a sham. It’s not only a waste of time, it’s a deliberate misdirection meant to fraudulently legitimate the actual power.