The Odds are not as they were

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Now You See It Now You Don't": "...to make a different assessment to the one already made by the elected body." "A majority of Council,under the leadership and guidance of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor are prepared to spend hard-earned resources to buy a pig in a poke." So, some democratic majority decisions are okay, but others - the ones you ______________________________ The abiding principle of democracy is the majority rules. There is no maxim that the majority is always right. Neither a requrement for the minority to surrender judgement. Many factors can combine to create a majority: Coercion. Bullying. Payback. Followers. Neither courage nor conviction or a simple lack of judgement. People who run for office or have never held public office often underestimate the pressure to please. The inclination is to be agreeable and do what the "people"want. Doing the right thing and what "people" want,isn't always the same thing. Removal of obstructions to the smooth, safe. efficient movement of traffic in the north-east quadrant is an example. Councillor Abel noted all but one e-mails asked for the "diverters" to remain in place. Of course they were. They were from people who enjoy the advantage. They enjoy all the amenity of living in the core of the town with none of the inconvenience. The purpose of public rights of way, costing millions annually to maintain,is entirely frustrated by barriers to discourage their use. To add insult to injury,those deprived were also required to pay for the privilege of being deprived. An elected official might honestly not ccomprehend the wider picture or see it well enough but hope others don't. They don't notice or the argument will be forgotten by the next election. It's a risk they take. Not as good a risk as it was before the social media, The minority factor is not what it was.