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we all think that we draw the “correct” line between personal liberty and imposition of law on other individuals, but (I believe) none of us really do, and we certainly can’t agree on it.

I can certainly agree with that.
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So the best system we have is to voice our ideas, sometimes very fundamental and personal ones, and decide as a democracy what to follow- or in another word: politics. It’s ugly and I personally hate politics, but at least none of us have to submit to the fringe beliefs of a single individual. We at least get to submit to something that’s widely accepted, even if we don’t agree. And I don’t know how we can ever do any better than that, even as ugly as it is.

Well, some systems protect the rights of the minority a bit better than others. What really scares me about the US system is that it hands over the power so strongly to a nominal majority (as in 50.01%).