One of the risks that has historically plagued democratic societies is the temptation for governments to abuse their power.<\/p>\n
Such abuse can end up turning a democracy into a tyranny of the majority<\/strong>, which is what happens when fundamental human rights, and particularly those of minorities, are undermined for the sake of a party's political agenda. That is what happened in Germany after the National Socialist Party came to power in 1933.<\/strong> Many believed that this process would not affect them because the Nazis had targeted others as their primary objectives.<\/p>\n Many Germans would then ask themselves: What should I worry about if I'm not Jewish?<\/em><\/strong> The Nazis had convinced many Germans that the Jewish people were to blame for all their ills and that their sacrifice was acceptable on the altar of national interest. Ultimately, Hitler's dictatorship ended up affecting everyone<\/strong>, even many early Nazis who were purged when the regime saw fit to get rid of them. But the nazi dictatorship didn't begin then: it began when the violation of the rights of a few was accepted as a crude pretext for solving the problems of the majority.<\/strong><\/p>\n For some time now, some democratic countries have been experiencing similar processes. Two years ago, I spoke here about the case of France<\/a>, a country where the majority of its politicians \u2014even those on the right<\/a>\u2014 decided to include abortion, the act of killing an unborn baby in the womb, in the French Constitution<\/strong>, a legal, ethical, and moral aberration that turns a crime against the most innocent and defenseless into a fundamental right. Now, the socialists intend to do the same in Spain<\/a>, with a reform of the Constitution through the back door<\/strong> that would avoid having to dissolve the Cortes and call elections.<\/p>\n I care little if many are scandalized by this: Enshrining abortion as a right in a Constitution is an atrocity comparable to enshrining the \"right\" to own slaves<\/strong>, which is what some defended in another democracy, specifically the US, in the 19th century. It is also comparable to disenfranchising Jews,<\/strong> which is what the nazis did in Germany after winning the 1933 elections. Furthermore, this process serves as a rehearsal for other human rights abuses<\/strong>. If violating the most sacred of these rights, the right to life, is acceptable for a country, what will prevent the government from promoting other abuses by disguising them as cynically as they do with abortion?<\/strong><\/p>\n A few weeks ago, we already saw the leftist government of Spain expressing its intention to censor social media<\/a>, a violation of the right to freedom of expression under the pretext of combating \"hate,\" and even proposing to completely ban access to Twitter in the country<\/a>, as already happens in dictatorships like North Korea, Iran, Russia, or China. In 1994, Saint Teresa of Calcutta warned<\/a>: \"Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want.<\/strong>\"<\/em> We could add something more to that accurate warning, seeing the drift of our rulers: that many accept turning murder into a \"right\" opens the door for politicians to do the same with other crimes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n ---<\/p>\n
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