What are some synonyms--or perhaps a family of related expressions--for the concept of "a majority of one"? I'm working on a poem and need to work that concept in, perhaps more cogently. Also, "majority of one" doesn't have the sounds that I want for the line.

Many thanks,
WW

Dear WW: I found many sites dealing with this topic, including a 1961 movie. I did
find one quote new to me:

".....President
Andrew Jackson’s assertion that “One man with courage makes a
majority."

One man with courage can become a majority. But not always.

It also takes courage and endurance to defeat one man with abundant gall.

WW do you mean winning by one vote?

No, I don't mean winning by one vote, Bel. What I mean is, against all odds and numbers, the majority is formed by a single person. Take a king, for instance, with complete power. That would be a majority of one. Or let's say in a single-parent family in which that parent refuses to listen to the wishes of the children ever. That would be another majority of one. At least, that's how I'm taking the expression's meaning. I could be wrong here, but that's how I'm taking it.

Thanks,
WW

There is one person who thinks he can use intimidation to make himself a majority of one.

Bill, you are so right. I was devastated when I realized this was not the end of it. I had thought I wouldn't post, but I saw what you had said and had to agree. Why won't he go away? It is monstrous perversity to insist on inflicting your presence on those who do not wish it. Perhaps a perfect example of majority of one - in his brain, anyway.

Let us go in peace to love and serve the board.

A dictatorship is a majority of one. The people's hopes, desires, dreams and needs are ignored by the majority of one.

A child who throws temper tantrums to get what she wants [and always ends up getting it] is a majority of one.

An insensitive, controling teacher in a classroom who dictates lectures and discounts the many minds that could contribute different points of view is a majority of one.

A club member who demands that the functions of the club operate under her exclusive system (and for whom each function is provided) is a majority of one.

In any relationship in which the dominant member controls the outcome, for better or worse, there is a majority of one.

The difficulty of overcoming majorities of one lies in the manner in which the power is held. Sometimes overcoming such majorities means taking flight; sometimes it means destroying the environment in which the majority of one rules; sometimes it means taking away the powers that the majority of one holds.

The majority of one often works against the minority of many. Such power is the antithesis of democracy.

This is the kind of thing I'm trying to get at in my poem. Is there a synonym for this state of affairs, whether political or personal? I don't like dictatorship because it's too political and the subject matter of the poem is deeply personal.

Thanks again for taking a look at this,
WW

Tyrant? Autocrat? Manipulator? Bully? Do any of these suggest what you are describing, WW?

Thanks, Slithy. Autocrat is just right!

Best regards,
Wordwind

The majority of one often works against the minority of many. Such power is the antithesis of democracy.

Bill's reference, however, suggests that a "majority of one" can also represent the triumph of individual freedom(s) over an oppressive state (that may or may not actually be a dictatorship). I would also tie this in with belM's understanding of the phrase as suggesting one vote can make all the difference and tip the balance.

But if you assume a situation where the majority decision is dictated (for want of a better word ) by one vote, which vote makes the difference? In a way each person who voted for the eventual majority decision is the individual that made the difference.

There is a very important ambiguity here. We don't want an unelected dictator telling us what to do - but on the other hand, we may wholly admire an "ordinary" person standing up for their rights and ours and creating a change in the law.
If you think about it, whether someone has been democratically elected or not isn't as important as whether what they want fits reasonably well with what we want. Let's face it, when you vote a political party in you're always adopting a whole raft of policies that you may loathe along with those that you actually voted for.

Anyway, that's more than enough politics.

Fisk

Because I can't resist it, some final thoughts and a song.

Panjandrum. Little Hitler. Führer. What I say goes. Little tin god. High and mighty.
Abuse of power. Anyone remember this?

When we caught the seven hundred men
Who said: “suspend them by their fuzz.”
Was I Wazir? – I was.
………”Was he Wazir? – He was.”
When the keeper of the royal zoo was short a cock-a-too or two
Who sealed him in a pot of glue?
Was I Wazir? – I was.
………”Was he Wazir? – He was.
………He has a way of learning what he wants to know
………Delicate, but to the point.”
They always seem to remember
When I begin to dismember
Them arm by arm and ear by ear and joint by joint.
When the court musician lost his grasp
And let his lute begin to rasp
Who had him bitten by an asp?
Was I Wazir? – I was.
………”Was he Wazir? – He was.”
The time we caught the man who said I wasn’t nice
………”Joy! O joy! That was a time”
I confiscated his mother
And then did something or other
Involving her dissolving in a vat of lime.
When at last in manner neat deft
I’ve hacked and hatcheted and cleft
Until no one but me is left
I want it clear
………”He wants it clear”
I was Wazir.
………”And is Wazir
………In every single charming and disarming thing he does.”
Was I Wazir?
………”Wazir he was.”

From the musical Kismet.
Based on “Hassan” by James Elroy Flecker.
Music adapted from the Polovtsian Dances from Borodin’s Prince Igor