[charcircuit]

>Democracy does not mean the majority gets whatever it wants.

Yes, it does. By definition democracy is doing whatever the majority wants to do.

>protecting the rights of the minority

Under democracy the minority opinion can be ignored. Rights only need to be protected if the majority wants. And the majority can decide what is and isn't considered a right.

[matwood]

> Rights only need to be protected if the majority wants. And the majority can decide what is and isn't considered a right.

Then you no longer have a democracy.

[charcircuit]

Why? Rights are orthogonal to something being a democracy. A society could decide to have no human rights yet still make decisions democratically.

[matwood]

If minority rights are not maintained, then the first majority to win will change the rules/system so that the minority can never become the majority. In the extreme example, the 51% votes to eliminate the 49%. For a democracy to function minority rights and checks on the majority power are fundamental requirements.

Originally from the Dept. of State: https://www.principlesofdemocracy.org/majority

[charcircuit]

>so that the minority can never become the majority

So you are trying to say that a democracy that is unable to find a global maxima is not a functional democracy? I would disagree and say that a democracy moving towards a local maxima is still functional.