The ultimate goal of human beings in life is to be happy. To find peace and contentment. Only the democratic order facilitates this to the highest degree possible. In In Defense of Democracy Anne Marie Waters clarifies what democracy is, and what it isn't. Democracy is not voting. Voting is merely a method, it is not democracy itself.


Democracy is free and open access to the ballot paper. It is free speech, universal suffrage, an honest press, an accountable government. It is a way of life. Voting does not make a democracy. If people vote for tyranny, as as has happened throughout history, it remains tyranny, despite it being popular.
Anne Marie Waters examines each of the essential characteristics of democracy in turn, shining a light on moral superiority to tyranny and totalitarianism, and exposing movements that pose as democratic while leading us away from democracy.