DEBUNKING THE MYTH OF “THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE”

Campaigners against the Electoral College in the US say that it frustrates the will of the people because it can deny victory to the candidate with a majority share of the popular vote, as shown in the election of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. [...] To think of the will of the people as a fact about the world is to 3 be in the grip of a myth. [...] THE SUPPRESSION OF PLURALISM Voting will only give you the will of a majority of the people, not the will of the whole of the people and so political pluralism is denied. [...] And all this in the name of the will of the people! As a citizen of a democratic country, you know you are in trouble when a political party - any political party – claims to embody the will of the people. [...] Claiming the democratic legitimacy of a referendum vote, but then formulating policy on the vaguest of mandates, the government gains the freedom to determine the meaning of the result.