We the People: What Is Sovereignty?

    What does “We the People” actually mean? If the people are sovereign, does that mean 51% can do whatever they want to the other 49%? Popular sovereignty does not necessarily mean majority rule without limits. If the majority can simply override the rights of the minority, then “the people are sovereign” can become mob rule.

     Popular sovereignty means legitimate government ultimately comes from the people, but that does not automatically mean the majority possesses unlimited power. Mob rule occurs when the majority treats its own will as sufficient justification for violating the rights of individuals or minorities. That's where natural rights come in, which were exercised far more often in early small civilizations.

     In medieval Iceland, political authority was divided among different chieftains and their followers rather than being concentrated in one central government. A freeman could choose which chieftain to associate with, and these relationships were based on personal affiliation rather than simply living in a particular territory. When conflicts arose between different groups, they had to find ways to settle their disagreements through negotiation, compromise, and legal agreements rather than simply relying on one side's authority to force the other to submit. This created a system in which cooperation was often more practical than constantly escalating conflicts.

     In some ways, this can be compared to insurance companies. Insurance companies do not have laws preventing every disagreement from becoming a legal battle, but they have strong incentives to settle disputes because constantly fighting over every claim would be expensive and inefficient. Likewise, Icelandic groups had reasons to work out agreements with one another instead of treating every conflict as a matter of one side defeating the other. The example shows that a society can have multiple groups with different interests without assuming that whichever group has the most power should automatically control everyone else. This is an important distinction when considering what it means for the people to be sovereign.

     America doesn’t currently function entirely like the Icelandic Commonwealth. We have majority voting, elected representatives, laws that apply to everyone, and a government with authority over people who may not personally agree with every law. But the underlying question remains: when does majority rule become an abuse of popular sovereignty? 

     The people being sovereign does not mean that the majority is always right. If the majority can violate the rights of the minority simply because it has enough votes, then sovereignty of the people has become mob rule. A free society has to balance the authority of the people with the rights of the individuals who make up that people.