Democracy is sometimes characterised as government by consent or, more modestly, the consent of the majority. However, Hobbesian democracy cannot be characterised as government by consent unless one assumes that every subject of the State ‘consents’ to whatever rules it imposes regardless of how or why he or she votes and regardless of whether he or she votes at all. Obviously, under that assumption, elections and voting have nothing to do with proving consent. Apparently, then, with respect to Hobbesian democracy, consent is not related to its democratic aspects; it must reside in its Hobbesian aspect. The arguments are familiar: