Furthermore, because those elected to the assembly are usually seen as
unbound representatives, as argued byBurke, rather than as bound delegates,
legislative assemblies often thwart the desires of those who elect them. A classic
example in the UK is the question of capital punishment. Ever since its
abolition in 1967 there has been a strong majority of the population in favour
of its return, yet several times votes in the House of Commons have rejected
the policy by sizeable majorities of the representatives. Similarly certain rules
developed by the US Supreme Court to protect the rights of those accused in
criminal trials are seen by a majority of citizens as hampering the police in
dealing with the crime problem, yet the unelected court, in what claims to be a
democracy, can and has prevented the popular will. Liberal democracy can be
seen as the answer to the traditional fear, as expressed byde Tocquevilleand
John StuartMill, of thetyranny of the majority—that unhampered major-
itarian democracy could be more dangerous to liberal values than many
ordinary tyrannies.
Liberal Party
The British Liberal Party, and its successor since 1988 the Liberal Democrats,
are the political descendants of the 18th and early 19th century Whigs, the
party which originally stood for the industrial and commercial middle class
against the rural upper class who supported the Tory party. It was also,de facto,
the party of the working class, and championed social reform, particularly in
the governments they formed between 1905 and 1922 (as part of a coalition
government from 1915). The Liberals could not, however, hold on to the
working-class vote once theLabour Partyhad become sufficiently organized
and had won credibility by forming a government in 1924. They very rapidly
slipped from being a potential ruling party to being a very small centre party, at
least in terms of seats in Parliament. The Liberals and their successors never
won more than 23 seats in the House of Commons in any general election
between those of 1935 and 1992, and on four separate occasions that number
fell as low as six. A system ofproportional representation, for which they
have tirelessly campaigned, would have given them many more seats as they
have frequently gained around 20% of votes cast, and there are indications that
their electoral support would be higher were it not that people see a vote for
the party as wasted, given the impossibility of the party doing well. As a party of
the centre in an essentiallytwo-party systemthey were inevitably squeezed
by the two class-related parties. However, it could be argued that in the general
elections of 1997 and 2001 this hindrance became a help. The popular desire to
oust the ruling Conservatives in 1997, and to keep them out of office in 2001,
saw a significant increase intactical votingwhereby the Liberal Democrats
attracted voters from Labour in constituencies where the latter’s chance of
Liberal Party