With the ongoing public debate about expanding the franchise to even younger people, it is time for a few quotes from Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn.
From Liberty or Equality:
[T]he democratic principle of "one man, one vote," viewed against a background of voting masses numbering several millions, only serves to demonstrate the pitiful helplessness of the inarticulate individual, who functions at the polls as the smallest indivisible arithmetical (and not always algebraic) unit. He acts in total anonymity, secrecy and legal irresponsibility.Also from Liberty or Equality:
While it is perhaps true that "one cannot fool all the people all the time," it seems that one can fool millions for centuries.From Leftism Revisited:
Sometime in the coming century, people will rack their brains pondering how nations with tremendous scientific and intellectual achievements could have given uninstructed and untrained men and women the right to vote equally uninstructed and untrained people into responsible positions.
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3 comments:
I'm always glad to find K-L's name and works appearing online. In this case, I think the next two sentences after your final quotation also apply:
"Whereas permission to drive a car, to build a house, to teach in schools depends on examinations and countless bureaucratic documents, the right to vote or to achieve political office rests on a purely vegetative stipulation, i.e., the number of accumulated birthdays. A dogcatcher pretending to be a physician can cause limited harm—the demise of a few unfortunates. But an ignorant head of state can cause the death of countless millions, and dismal servitude for countless more."
At the risk of being too self-promoting, there are many more quotations from K-L on various topics on
my webpage.
Ironically, as someone who has only just gained the right to vote by turning 18, I emphatically agree. I would add that I thought the same a few months ago when I didn't have the right to vote. It's just another step towards mass, direct democracy.
Mr. Rogers, thank you for your addition.
Mr. Landtroop, you are apparently more developed in such sentiments than I was at the same age. That is indeed welcome!
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