In this delightful little "yay, we're not subject to mob rule after all!" post on the NRA and the City of San Francisco.
This is why we live in a Republic, not a Democracy. Democracies suck. In a Democracy, a mob can vote that you no longer have rights, simply, as Alphecca's post demonstrates, by possessing a simple majority. In a Democracy, no minority — of any stripe, be that ethnicity, religion, practice, or thought, is safe from being ground into the dirt by the simple factor of who has more people. Simple majority rule, without the slightest brake pedal.
There is a reason that Democracies fail, and fail in a spectacular, bloody, made-for-Hollywood kind of way.
In a Republic, Freedom still demands Eternal Vigilance, but at least the diffusion of power sets the bar for Demogogues a bit higher.
Happycrow's Eyeball Factory 
JimDesu
/ June 13, 2006Isn’t it ironic that as a Republic we’re busy trying to build democracies? I think it’s so we can subjugate them, personally….
happycrow
/ June 13, 2006I don’t think it goes quite that far. Democracies suck. Open tyrannies suck worse…
Mike
/ June 14, 2006Eh, Republics can go to far as well. But I agree that democracies are much more open to mob rule.