One additional thought related to this post.
The idea of universal suffrage as an absolute is a strange one if you are one to consider the state as a morally legitimate entity. I, for one, do not believe it is, so this argument is moot but I’m arguing this on a statist’s logical terms.
If the state is a legitimate apparatus and comprised of moral agents that can contract with others (i.e., citizens), then universal suffrage is immoral unless those in government power agree to it. Forcing the government—if that were all possible—to enter into a contract on terms with which they do not agree, without full consent of their will, is immoral in the same way forced labor is immoral; a slavery, not matter how “soft” or in which direction it is aimed, is still slavery.
Forced association through law is common and accepted in America, but the idea of a representative democracy is so logically convoluted that arguing this point is just a further avenue of confusion if you keep chasing it.
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