Should a league be a democracy?

So David's comment about "[Pat making the decision...and that's all that matters]" got me to thinking about this. Here's my stance, and I'd like to here what others think(though I'll probably only get John, David and Pat's since it seems we're the only ones ever on here).


I don't think a league should be a democracy. But I do think that a league should be lead by a benevolent dictator. I think that it's too much of a pain to have everyone voting on everything in a fantasy league (votes for every scoring option, votes for every trade, votes for every rule, etc.), but I do think that everything should be up for discussion. And I think that if it is clear from a discussion (or a vote if necessary) that most of the league is against something then the league manager should take that into consideration, and more often than not I think the LM should change whatever it is the majority wants changed (within reason and within the right timing). A fantasy football league is made up of 10 or in this case 12 guys looking to have a good competitive time for the football season, and if there is something that the majority of those guys don't like then it should (more often than not) be changed. A FF league isn't about the commissioner, it's about the league, and the league is the guys that make it up.

This latest gripe about the waivers is the perfect example. Now it seems that most of the league likes the way the waivers are set up, so I think that they should stay the way they are (even though I don't prefer it this way).

But lets say for arguments sake that 11/12 league members don't like the rule. The only guy that likes it is the one guy that happens to work Sundays. So the league manager, not even liking the rule himself, decides to make a long waiver period. The rest of the league complains and it is clear that only the 1 guy wants it this way. With my idea of the "benevolent dictator LM" I think the league manager has two options here and both give the priority to what the league wants. The first is to tell the guy that works Sunday that maybe this isn't the league for him (this is I think the worse option). The second is to say to the league "Hey guys, so this guy really wants to be in the league, but he works Sundays and doesn't want to be at a severe disadvantage by not ever being able to get good spur of the moment FA pickups. What about having a very short waiver period just to give Joe the same opportunity everyone else has." (This, I think, is the better option)

I just think that with a competative active league where all the players care about the league and how things work, it's better to find out what everyone wants rather than have 1 guy choose.

But, if 7/12 of you disagree then I have to (by my own ideology) defer to the masses.