Liberalism
and democracy happen to be two things which begin by having to do with each
other, and end by having, so far as tendencies are concerned, meanings that are
mutually antagonistic. Democracy and
Liberalism are two answers to two completely different questions.
Democracy
answers this question – “who ought to exercise the public power?” The answer it gives is – the exercise of
public power belongs to the citizens as a body.
But this
question does not touch on what should be the realm of public power. It is solely
concerned with determining to whom such power belongs. Democracy proposes that
we all rule; that is, that we are sovereign in all social acts.
Liberalism,
on the other hand, answers the other question – “regardless of who exercises
the public power, what should its limits be?”
The answer it gives is – “whether the public power is exercised by an
autocrat or by the people, it cannot be absolute; the individual has rights
which are over and above any interference by the state.” This, then, tends to limit the intervention
of the public power.
Ortega y
Gasset, Invertebrate Spain, 1937.
