John Kenneth Galbraith’s Newest “Crisis of American Democracy”

“What should concern us now, however, is an emergent threat: the risk of a ‘tyranny of the minority,’ powered further by artificial intelligence (AI).”

Winston Churchill famously quipped that “…that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” We can discuss the disadvantages of democracy for ages, and, as John Kenneth Galbraith said, if you want to obtain a lucrative book contract, you should write, “The Crisis of American Democracy.”

Since time immemorial, the issue of the so-called tyranny of the majority has been widely seen as one of the most serious weaknesses of democracy. The tyranny of the majority refers to the ability of a majority group to impose its policies upon the rest of the population, thereby violating its rights in favor of the interests of the proverbial 51%.

The tyranny of the majority problem stems from one of the flaws of the utilitarian philosophy. In particular, in a democracy, it is supposed that people can most easily satisfy their needs and, thus, increase their utility simply because they will vote for the officials who will best represent their interests.

However, this utilitarian view of the issue overlooks an important factor: that—in the pursuit of its aims—the majority faction is capable of creating a system rigged towards itself, often at the expense of the interests of the minority. After all, according to the classical utilitarian logic, it is morally right to sacrifice the interests of the minority to promote “the greatest happiness of the greatest number.” For example, globalization (while generally beneficial)—to a certain extent—came at the expense of some in the working class, who lost their jobs due to automation and the influx of cheaper, imported goods.