I've just now come across this phrase "the tyranny of tolerance" and was hoping to get some feedback about it.
It's the title of a recent book by a Missouri judge upset by the liberalizing trends he not only notices in the greater society, but feels are being unduly imposed on conservative individuals such as him. I've yet to read it (and to be honest there are several dozen books on my to read this before his), but the premise that tolerance can be tyrannous is compelling. In Federalist #10 Madison did suggest that pure democracies can be agents of tyranny--"tyrannies of the majority" we call them.
A significant level of tolerance is argued to be a key determinant in the degree to which a country can become a democracy. Perhaps a lack of tolerance is what is keeping Iraq from becoming a democracy. So what might the judge be complaining about?
