Political: We should note how the process of change appeared to work among the Nephites. The only thing we hear that resembles the “voice of the people” in this example is that those who want to change the law “had sent in their voices with their petitions.” As with other examples of the operations of the voiced of the people we don’t get a precise definition of how the system worked, but it appears that this effort to change the law occurs with in the bounds of the law. There is a petition made, and it has the support of some portion of people who lend their “voice” to that petition. What is interesting is that the petition comes directly to Pahoran and he unilaterally denies the changes in law.
This is an important point for those who would suggest that the Book of Mormon replicates democracy. In this important instance of the attempt to change the law, there is nothing that suggests that the change is put to a vote. The entire people do not decide the issue, but rather the single man who has been placed in the judgment seat – a man who received that seat by heredity, not by vote. While there is the appearance of democracy in the presentation of the petition, the actual operation of the judgment on that petition suggests that there was a very different system at work.