Tyranny of the Majority

[DEMOREP1 at aol.com]

"Majority rule" would mean more if the term "majority" had a consistent
historical meaning.  The definition " > 50% " appears to be fairly
recent.

As far as I know, there has never been any requirement or expectation
that democracy imply > 50%.


Check definitions #1, 3c, and 4:

  http://www.britannica.com/cgi-bin/dict?va=majority
----
D- Up until rather recently *divine right of kings* (i.e. all powerful 
monarchs) was the prevailing notion in much of the world (producing most of 
the international wars and domestic oppressions in the last 7,000 plus years).

There has been progress in political thinking (as in many other areas) -- as 
with the rise of Condorcet in the 1780's, the rise of proportional 
representation in the 1840's and the rise of Approval Voting in the 1970's.

How often to > 50 percent majorities tyrannize themselves (for decades or 
centuries) as compared to thousands of years of tyranny by monarchies / 
oligarchies ???